Man arraigned after car hits 3 kids
He had been stopped earlier by Liberty Township police, then took off, police said.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dontae Hubbert, 20, of Delaware Avenue, was arraigned Friday on three counts of vehicular assault in connection with three children struck by a car Thanksgiving evening.
Hubbert had turned himself in at about 9 p.m. Thursday to Detective Sgt. Jose Morales. Now in the Mahoning County jail, Hubbert will appear before Judge Elizabeth Kobly at 10 a.m. Friday. The three counts of vehicular assault are third-degree felonies, and each carried a $150,000 bond or cash assurance. Other felony charges against Hubbert are failure to stop after an accident, $75,000 bond; fleeing and eluding, $50,000; and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, $50,000. Hubbert failed to post bond.
Three children, ages 3, 6 and 7, were injured as they were playing in a yard at the corner of Cordova and Granada. Sidney Kimbrough and Naijah Hasley were in critical condition in Akron Children's Hospital; Toni Davis was stable at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Hubbert traveled down Granada at a high rate of speed just after 7 p.m. in a 1990s model Oldsmobile. The police report says he sideswiped a disabled car that was blocking part of the street, then hit a tree and then hit the children.
Hubbert jumped out of the car and ran away, police reported.
Was pulled over
In Liberty, Police Chief Anthony Slifka said that officers had pulled Hubbert over shortly before the accident, but that he was not being chased when the children were struck.
Slifka said an officer pulled Hubbert over on Belmont Avenue for not having a front license plate. Hubbert, he said, stopped for the officer, but when a second patrol car arrived for backup, Hubbert took off.
Slifka said one of the officers did chase Hubbert but ended the chase long before the kids were struck.
"The officer knew it was a residential area, so he terminated the chase. He stopped the chase about six or seven blocks before the accident, but [Hubbert] continued with the high speed," he said.
According to Slifka, a passing motorist flagged the officer down sometime after the chase was called off and told him about the accident on Granada.
Detective Sgt. Elrico Alli, Youngstown Police spokesman, said files show Hubbert has previous traffic offenses, including a canceled driver's license, but it was not clear when it was canceled.
Detective Sgt. Patricia Garcar, YPD traffic investigator, is handling the case.