Austintown man killed by car stolen in Summit County

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

Calvin A. McMahan, 74, of Austintown was killed early Friday when he was struck by a car as he was walking near a northbound rest area along U.S. 77 in Bath Township, Summit County.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol post in North Canton said the car was driven by Kelvin Pantojas, 16, of Cleveland, who also died when the car crossed the center median and crashed into a heavily wooded area just south of Richfield and just west of Akron.

Pantojas was driving an Acura reported stolen earlier from a movie theater in Jackson Township, Summit County, a short time before the accident.

The Akron Beacon Journal reported that McMahan was crossing the northbound lane of the highway when he was struck at 12:47 a.m. The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed, police said.

The impact also injured Pantojas’ passenger.

McMahan’s niece, Kathleen Parker of Austintown, told the Beacon Journal that her uncle dabbled as a writer and artist and in genealogy over the years. He was not married and had no children.

She said McMahan once served in the Navy but never pursued a professional career in any field. Instead, she said, he focused on the arts.

“He was eccentric, to say the least,’’ she said.

Pantojas was pronounced dead at 1:39 a.m., and McMahan was pronounced dead at 1:54 a.m.

According to the Beacon Journal, Jackson Township Police Chief David Zink said his department was putting out a “be on the look-out” call to other departments regarding the stolen vehicle when the department learned that the car had been involved in an accident.

Fairlawn Police Chief Kenneth Walsh told the Beacon Journal that one of his officers had tried to pull over the car for a minor traffic violation while he was running radar on I-77.

“He witnessed two vehicles going just above the speed limit at about 12:40 a.m.,’’ Walsh said.

The vehicle was traveling too close to a van in front of it. As the officer pulled into the lane of traffic and turned on his overhead lights, the Acura sped off, Walsh said.

Fairlawn policy dictates officers not give chase in these incidents, he said, so the officer notified Richfield Police Department that they could expect the car to enter their jurisdiction at a high rate of speed.

As the Fairlawn officer continued northbound on I-77, he saw the tail lights of the car disappear to the left and assumed the vehicle had crashed, Walsh said.

McMahan was described as “down on his luck,’’ by Bath Police Chief Michael McNeely. He said McMahan was well-known to police in the area.

His vehicle was found parked at the northbound rest area after the accident, he said.

“Our officers had made contact with him quite a few times. They have known about him for two or three months,’’ McNeely told the Beacon Journal.

Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation.