Driver pleads innocent to hit-and-run charges

A woman was walking from a convenience store with her daughter when she was hit.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — A 27-year-old city man pleaded innocent to aggravated-vehicular assault and failure to stop after an accident in which police say he hit a 21-year-old pedestrian Friday afternoon on Sixth Street in Warren Township while driving his car.

Antonio L. Jackson, of Surfwood Circle, was released Wednesday after signing a $10,000 personal recognizance bond in Warren Municipal Court.

If convicted of the charges, he could get up to nine years in prison.

At about 1:50 p.m., Whitney Dunkerton, of Colt Court, was hit by a Chevrolet Astro van as she was walking with her daughter from a nearby convenience store, said Lt. Don Bishop of the Warren Township Police Department.

Dunkerton spent about 11‚Ñ2 days in a coma in Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital with a fractured skull but was likely to be released soon, Bishop said. The hospital said Wednesday, however, it had no listing for her.

“She didn’t see it coming,” Bishop said of Dunkerton, who was walking off the side of the road at the time of the accident. Dunkerton knows Jackson because they have children who attend school together in Warren, Bishop said.

The accident apparently occurred because Jackson’s vehicle hit the berm of the road and then traveled back across the road, hitting Dunkerton, Bishop said.

Jackson left the scene after the accident.

Police were able to interview Jackson early the next day after the accident, and he told police what happened, Bishop said, adding that Jackson’s vehicle had damage in the location that would be expected for that type of accident.

Jackson is due to return to court at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 3 before Judge Terry Ivanchak.