Officer: Driver didn't brake

By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- No brakes were applied before Christiaen A. Lively's speeding car crashed in Mill Creek Park, leaving three teenagers dead, an expert witness says.
The tires were rotating, causing sideways "scuff" marks on the road, said Youngstown Detective Sgt. Patricia Garcar. If Lively had attempted to brake, the tires would have left skid marks, she said.
Garcar, an accident reconstructionist, testified Monday at Lively's preliminary hearing in municipal court. She said that, at minimum, Lively was driving 57 mph. The posted speed is 25 mph.
Once Lively's car started "yawing" (a side-to-side motion), he had no steering control, Garcar said. She did tests on the road to determine the speed.
On March 27 at 11:40 p.m., Lively's 1992 Chevrolet Lumina rammed head-on into boulders that line Axe Factory Run bridge on West Cohasset Drive. Killed in the 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.
"The court finds probable cause that the defendant committed the crimes for which he is charged," Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly said at the conclusion of Monday's 21/2-hour hearing. She bound the case over to a Mahoning County grand jury.
Charges
Lively, 18, of Parkwood Avenue, faces three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of aggravated vehicular assault. The Cardinal Mooney High School senior remains free on $10,000 signature bond.
"I'm pleased we were able to hold a preliminary hearing," City Prosecutor Dionne M. Almasy said after court.
After court, Lively's Youngstown lawyer, Jeff Kurz, said he's confident the grand jury will not indict his client on the five felony charges. Kurz didn't rule out that misdemeanor charges could be pursued.
"The family has to keep reliving this -- after a grand jury returned a no bill -- and I feel confident the grand jury will again do the right thing," Kurz said. "This was a tragic accident. Christiaen Lively is not a criminal."
Last month, a grand jury considered the case against Lively but declined to indict him after hearing evidence from a park police officer only. At the time, Almasy recommended the case be directly presented to the grand jury, which eliminated the need for charges to be filed in municipal court.
Girls testify
At Monday's preliminary hearing, Almasy and Dana C. Guarnieri, an assistant prosecutor, called to the witness stand three teenage girls from Austintown who survived the crash and Mill Creek MetroParks Sgt. Randy Campana. Two of the girls, sisters Lia Kovalchik, 16, and Karla Kovalchik, 14, were seriously injured in the crash. The third, Colleen Casey, 17, suffered small cuts.
Lia Kovalchik testified that Childs was laughing and telling Lively to "put the pedal to the metal." She said everyone screamed when they hit the bridge.
Karla Kovalchik, who suffered a head injury as well as broken bones, remembered nothing of the accident and just "bits and parts" of what happened before they entered the park.
Lively used his hands to cover his eyes and sobbed as Casey described from the witness stand her recollection of what happened.
Asked him to slow down
She said Childs encouraged Lively to speed up while Karla Kovalchik -- who was "getting very nervous and twitchy" -- asked him to slow down.
Casey said she, too, asked Lively to slow down and kept putting her hand on the seat in front of her as they rounded curves. She thinks she blacked out when they hit the bridge and said it was "dead quiet" and no one was moving when she regained consciousness.
Lively pulled Childs, killed on impact, and the Kovalchik sisters out the driver's side rear door so that Casey, whose rear passenger door wouldn't open, could get out. Ferraro and Thomas, both also killed on impact, were in the front seat.
Casey said Lively began pacing and saying, "How did this happen? It wasn't supposed to happen."
Officer's testimony
Campana testified that Lia Kovalchik, lying on the road, told him: "I told [Lively] he was going too fast."
Campana quoted Lively as saying: "Tell me this is a bad dream -- tell me this is a dream."
The three girls said they had been at The Mill in Austintown and left around 10:30 p.m. with Lively, who was driving them home. Lively first drove to the South Side to pick up Childs, Thomas and Ferraro.
Casey said Lively then drove into the park, stopping once while he, Thomas and Childs got out to engage in horseplay. When a car drove past, the boys got back in and Lively sped off, she said.
meade@vindy.com