Witness says teen killed didn't brake

AUSTINTOWN — Speed was likely a factor in Saturday’s fatal car accident on Kirk Road, a township police report says.

The report on the wreck that killed 18-year-old Canfield resident Tricia Lenio at 2:41 a.m. was released today.

An Ohio State Highway Patrol accident reconstructionist has been asked to analyze the accident data to determine the car’s speed, said Lt. Bryan Kloss of the township police. That report should be ready in two to three weeks.

But a witness who was pumping gas at the nearby Speedway told township police it appeared to him that the car may have been speeding and that the driver didn’t brake before the accident.

Lenio, who was driving east, went off the right side of the snow-covered road near Charly’s restaurant. Her car, a midsize Chevrolet, slid, hit a rock, rolled onto its passenger side and sheared off a utility pole, the report says.

Lenio was dead at the scene. The fire department reported she did not appear to be wearing her seat belt.

Blood tests to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the accident are not finished, Kloss said.

Lenio had been driving home from her boyfriend’s house on Penny Lane in Austintown, the report says. The boyfriend told police that they had watched a basketball game and they had not been drinking.

Lenio was a senior at South Range High School and planning to attend Youngstown State University.