Guilty plea in hit-run death

WARREN -- A 49-year-old McDonald man pleaded guilty to two charges in the death of a 66-year-old man hit by a car Dec. 4, 2004, on the west end of the Girard-McDonald Viaduct.
Terry Thomas of 204 McDonald Ave. drove a 1999 white Jeep Cherokee that struck and killed James Felger of McDonald, according to Girard police.
Thomas pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor, and hit-skip failure to stop after an accident, a felony, Monday in the Trumbull County Common Pleas courtroom of Judge Peter Kontos. A presentencing investigation has been ordered.
Thomas was to have faced a trial on the vehicular homicide, hit and run and a felony of tampering with evidence Jan. 23. The charge of tampering with evidence has been dropped, court records indicate.
Felger was found around 1 a.m. Dec. 4, 2004, after a passer-by spotted a body alongside the road at the west end of the Girard-McDonald viaduct. He lay where West Liberty Street and Marshal Road meet, police said.
Felger was retired, lived in McDonald and liked to walk, Police Chief Frank Bigowsky said.
At the time of the accident, Thomas was working at the Niles titanium manufacturer RMI, having gotten back to work after a long lockout, his attorney, Robert Shaker, said.