Man charged in 2nd hit and run

WARREN — A Hamilton Street man, out of prison less than two weeks for having hit a pedestrian on Youngstown Road and leaving the scene in June 2008, reportedly did the same thing on North Park Avenue last week, police said.

Reginald Davis, 39, of Hamilton Street Southwest, turned himself in to police this week and admitted he was the man who hit Irene N. Comanescu, 47, about 5:15 p.m. Jan. 14 on North Park Avenue, Warren Patrolman Ben Harrell said.

Judge Terry Ivanchak of Warren Municipal Court entered an innocent plea for Davis on Friday morning to felony charges of tampering with evidence and failure to stop after an accident. He also pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor charge of driving under suspension. Davis was released after posting $2,500 bond. He will return to court at 2 p.m. Feb. 1.

Comanescu is in the intensive care unit at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital for injuries she suffered in the accident. Her condition was not available.

Police believe Comanescu, whose last known address was the Warren Family Mission on Elm Road, was walking in the northbound curb lane when she was hit.

The vehicle left the scene, and police found no witnesses to the accident.

But Harrell received information that Davis might be responsible, and when Davis learned that police were interested in talking to him, he turned himself in, Harrell said.

“He said he got scared, and that’s why he left,” Harrell said of Davis. “He says she was in the roadway. He didn’t see her and hit her,” Harrell said, adding that the accident occurred at a “fairly slow speed.”

Harrell said Davis should have stayed at the accident scene. He probably would have been charged only with driving under suspension, a misdemeanor, if he would have, Harrell said.

The tampering charge pertains to Davis’ hiding the 1991 white Chevy Cavalier involved in the accident in a garage. The vehicle has damage to the hood and right front corner, Harrell said.

When police and emergency workers found Comanescu, they found that the accident had knocked her out of her shoes, with one of them about 10 feet in front of her and the other one about 10 feet behind her.

Harrell said that suggests Comanescu was hit near the first shoe, and the car dragged the other shoe farther ahead. Comanescu was apparently hit in her lower right leg area and flipped onto the hood of the car, Harrell said.

In March 2009, Davis was convicted of vehicular assault and failure to stop after an accident and sentenced to one year in prison for hitting a pedestrian on Youngstown Road in Warren on June 7, 2008.

He began serving the prison term March 20, 2009, and was released Jan. 2, 2010.

If convicted of tampering and failure to stop, Davis could get up to six years in prison.