Man charged after truck hits house

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

A township man faces five charges after he drove his pickup truck through an Elmwood Avenue home during a police chase.

Daniel P. McCarthy, 40, of Woodgate Street, faces a felony charge of failure to comply, as well as driving under suspension, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, failure to control and hit-skip, all misdemeanors.

He is in the Mahoning County jail and will appear March 29 for a pretrial hearing in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown.

Police Chief Bob Gavalier said McCarthy drove his truck through the Elmwood Avenue home Tuesday to end a police pursuit that began about 9:30 p.m. near Willowcrest Drive and state Route 46. An off- duty police officer reported McCarthy rear-ended him and left the scene.

An officer saw McCarthy driving south on South Inglewood Avenue, according to a police report. He attempted to make the bend onto Willowcrest and struck a utility pole before continuing down the street, which prompted the officer to activate his siren and begin pursuing the vehicle, according to the report.

The officer followed McCarthy north on state Route 46, east on Mahoning Avenue and south on Marcia Drive, where the officer was advised to discontinue the pursuit.

The chase speed peaked at 50 mph in a 45 mph zone during light traffic, Gavalier said.

He said it was then that Mc Carthy drove his truck through a stop sign at Elmwood Avenue and Marcia, into the front lawn and through the front of the home at 5127 Elmwood.

“The street he was on comes up to a ‘T’ intersection, and he went straight,” Gavalier said. “He was probably going too fast and didn’t realize until it was too late that he was up in someone’s yard.”

Gavalier said the home- owner told police at the scene he saw the car coming into the yard and jumped out of the way. His two children were asleep in their bedrooms. No one was injured.

Austintown Fire Inspector Rick Milliron said the front of the house was boarded up Tuesday night by National Fire Repair, and the family was moved, though he doesn’t know where.

Attempts to contact home- owner Matt Smith on Wednesday through National Fire Repair were unsuccessful.

Milliron said he and the county building inspector went through the home Wednesday. He said the walls where the car entered the house will need to be reconstructed, and the garage will have to be torn down and rebuilt.

“The garage was deemed structurally unsound. It was shifted 6 inches [away from the house,]” Milliron said. “The house is secured right now and is going to be able to be rebuilt.”