Failure to yield charge follows fatal accident

CANFIELD — Police have charged Kenneth Direnzo, 51, of East Main Street, in connection with the March 3 accident that was followed by a city man’s death.

Robert Frichtel, 73, was walking to his home on Carriage Lane from the center of town when police said Frichtel was hit by a pickup truck backing out of a private driveway on East Main.

Police said Frichtel declined assistance from the driver at the accident scene and continued his walk home.

Direnzo is now charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian and is scheduled to appear Wednesday before Judge Scott Hunter of Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield.

Police said on the day of the accident that officers and medical personnel arrived at Frichtel’s residence after a friend called for help.

“The deceased made a phone call to a friend shortly after he arrived home that morning and informed that friend that he’d been run over,” Canfield Detective Andy Bodzak said previously. “He told him that he wasn’t feeling well and asked him to come to take him to the hospital.”

Bodzak said when the friend arrived, he found Frichtel unconscious in his bedroom.

Police and the county coroner’s office said Frichtel was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Health Center and rushed to surgery, but was pronounced dead at 2:05 p.m. that day.