Car crash leaves driver in critical condition

Car crash leaves driver in critical condition

WEATHERSFIELD — A 74-year-old Mineral Ridge man was in critical condition late Monday in St. Elizabeth Health Center after a single-car crash on Niles Vienna Road at 8:35 p.m. Sunday.

The Warren post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said Robert Fairburn was traveling westbound between Stillwagon Road and U.S. Route 422 when he failed to negotiate a curve, over-corrected, and hit a rock and a tree on the left side of the road.

He was extricated from the vehicle before being taken to the hospital. Fairburn was not wearing a seat belt. The patrol is continuing its accident investigation.

Suspect arrested in Citizens Bank robbery

HERMITAGE, Pa. — Police have arrested a suspect in the robbery of the Citizens Bank on East State Street last week.

Rodney J. Stefek, 43, whose last known address is on Mauro Circle in Niles, was arrested in the bank robbery Monday. He was to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

Stefek had been in the Trumbull County Jail since Friday on a probation violation, police said.

The FBI and Hermitage police got help from Niles and Howland Township police and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in identifying Stefek as a suspect, Hermitage police said.

The bank was robbed at 10:28 a.m. Dec. 8. A man approached a teller and gave her a note demanding money.

Man crushed by cars

GREENVILLE, Pa. — A man died after being crushed between two cars while trying to pull a minivan out of a ditch on an icy road.

Jason R. Spencer, 29, 1211 Fredonia Road, Hadley, was killed around 4:30 p.m. Saturday on Township Highway 773 after a passing motorist in a Jeep stopped to help him get the minivan out of the ditch, said state police in Mercer. Spencer had been a passenger in the minivan.

As Spencer was hooking up a tow strap to the Jeep, a minivan driven by Walter O. Nelson, 35, of Meadville lost control on the ice and hit the Jeep. The Jeep struck Spencer.

Police said Nelson is charged with driving at an unsafe speed.

Shooting suspect

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — City police say they are planning to file charges against a suspect in a shooting on Richlieu Avenue.

The shooting happened at 9:34 a.m. Sunday, police said.

A man came out of his residence and shot several times at another man, who was not hit, a police report says.

The suspect will be charged with reckless endangering, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, having a gun without a license and shooting a gun in the city.