Suit filed over 2007 fatal crash on state Route 11

The complaint seeks more than $25,000 in damages.

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the estate of a 29-year-old Michigan Avenue man who was killed in a one-vehicle accident two years ago on state Route 11 in Austintown.

Shalaine Monique Enahora of Chicago filed the suit Thursday in her role as executrix of the estate of Keane Gregory, who died in the April 9, 2007, crash.

The suit was filed against Jennifer M. Lukach, 31, of Jerry Drive, Hubbard, driver of the southbound SUV in which Gregory was a passenger. Lukach was injured in the crash.

The SUV veered off the right side of the road, striking a tree shortly after noon, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The civil suit, which demands a jury trial, alleges that Lukach was negligent, reckless and under the influence of a drug. The complaint seeks more than $25,000 in damages.

The complaint, filed by Atty. Percy Squire of Columbus, is assigned to Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

In a traffic case related to the crash, Lukach pleaded no contest and was found guilty in Mahoning County Court in Austintown of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. She was sentenced in June 2008 to 180 days in jail, all but 30 of them suspended, fined $750 and put on two years’ probation.

Judge David A. D’Apolito also suspended her driver’s license for two years but gave her occupational driving privileges.

The judge said the sentence was based on the fact that the accident was fatal, “the high concentration of cocaine in the defendant’s system’’ and the fact that Lukach was convicted of OVI offenses in 1998 and 1999.

Lukach could not be reached for comment on the civil lawsuit.