MILL CREEK PARK Prosecutor to file charges against teen in fatal crash

The city prosecutor had no comment about the grand jury's decision.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Charges against Christiaen A. Lively, the driver whose car crashed in Mill Creek Park, killing three teenage passengers, will be filed next week, the city prosecutor says.
Last week, a Mahoning County grand jury declined to indict Lively, 18, of Parkwood Avenue, on felony charges of aggravated vehicular homicide. The Cardinal Mooney High School senior was injured in the crash, as were three teenage girls.
Speed, not alcohol or drugs, was a factor in the March 27 crash, City Prosecutor Dionne M. Almasy has said. Lively's 1992 Chevrolet Lumina was traveling 57 mph on West Cohasset Drive when it rammed head-on into boulders that line Axe Factory Run bridge. The posted speed is 25 mph.
Researching charges
Almasy said today that she is doing legal research to determine if the facts of the case qualify for felony or misdemeanor charges. She had no comment on last week's decision by the grand jury not to indict Lively.
Almasy said that on Monday she received a packet of information from Mill Creek MetroParks police and will review the file, along with her legal research.
The prosecutor said charges -- felony or misdemeanor -- will be filed early next week. It was at her suggestion to park Police Chief Nathaniel Pinkard that the case was directly presented to a grand jury, which eliminated the need for a preliminary hearing in municipal court.
Almasy said that passengers in the car had requested Lively slow down but that he failed to heed the warning. She said he was speeding in the dark park down a winding road into a bend and had more passengers than the car could safely accommodate.
Killed in the one-car crash were Anthony C. Childs, 18, of East Dewey Avenue and Isiah M. Thomas, 16, of St. Louis Avenue, both Mooney students, and Amanda M. Ferraro, 16, of New Road, Austintown, a student at Fitch High School. Injured but home now are Lia Kovalchik, 16, and her sister, Karla Kovalchik, 14, both of Sandburg Drive, Austintown. Treated after the crash was Colleen E. Casey, 17, of Sandburg Drive.
meade@vindy.com