MAHONING COURT Man who fled crash is sentenced

A judge gave him credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Struthers man was imprisoned Monday for an April crash that tore out a stretch of a cemetery fence and injured his passengers.
Robert R. Vecchio, 40, of Eighth Street, was sentenced to 18 months in an Ohio penitentiary Monday by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Judge Sweeney suspended six months of the sentence and gave Vecchio credit for 195 days he has spent in the county jail awaiting trial.
Vecchio also was fined $2,500 and his Ohio driver's license was suspended for six months. Judge Sweeney ordered him to pay the cost of repairing the fence at Lake Park Cemetery, but court officials did not have an amount.
What happened
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews said Vecchio was speeding while driving east on Midlothian Boulevard on April 1 when he swerved to avoid a vehicle in front of him and lost control of his car near Lake Park Boulevard.
Vecchio's vehicle crashed through the fence at the cemetery, flipped over and came to rest on its top in a pond in the cemetery, Andrews said.
Andrews said Vecchio got out of the car and fled, but was identified by witnesses at the scene and was caught later. Authorities believe alcohol was involved but were unable to prove it because of the time lapse between the accident and his arrest, Andrews said.
The passengers, Donna Essad and Elemuel Murphy, both of Youngstown, escaped from the vehicle. Essad, 39, suffered injuries to her left hand and had cuts and scrapes all over her body. Murphy, 44, sustained injuries to his head, neck and back.
bjackson@vindy.com