Driver pleads innocent to assault charges

STAFF REPORT

CORTLAND — The driver accused of running another driver off the state Route 5 Outerbelt on Friday afternoon has pleaded innocent to two charges of felonious assault.

Joshua Ford, 22, of 2182 Henn-Hyde Road, Cortland, will return to Central District Court at 9 a.m. today for a preliminary hearing on the charges. If convicted, he could face up to 16 years in prison.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Ford was westbound on the highway between the Elm Road and Larchmont Avenue exits in his Toyota Scion. A PT Cruiser containing a woman and her 5-year-old daughter was also westbound.

Ford apparently became upset with the woman and intentionally drove her off of the road, witnesses told the patrol.

Her car flipped sideways twice before falling end over end into a metal pole supporting a road sign, the patrol said.

The woman was treated for a right leg injury at St. Joseph Health Center in Warren, and the girl suffered rub burns from her seat belt.