Suspect in hit-and-run that hurt cop free on bond

Photo

Ryan T. Battison

Staff report

GIRARD

Ryan T. Battison, 26, of Tibbetts-Wick Road is free on $10,000 bond after being accused of driving his vehicle into police Capt. John Villecco and then leaving the scene.

Battison and his attorney, Ben Joltin, came to the police station at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the request of investigators.

Battison was charged with aggravated vehicular assault and failure to stop. He was arraigned in Girard Municipal Court, where he will return at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing before Judge Michael A. Bernard.

In the hit-and-run, the police captain had stopped a vehicle in the southbound passing lane in the 900 block of South State Street (U.S. Route 422) about 1 a.m. Saturday. He arrested its driver on a drunken-driving charge.

As Villecco checked the vehicle before arranging for it to be towed, a fast-moving southbound vehicle went left of center and hit Villecco while he was outside his cruiser, despite his attempts to leap out of the way, police said.

Patrolman Steve Lewis, who was transporting the arrested suspect to the police station, saw the hit in his rearview mirror and pursued the hit-skip driver, police said.

The driver, believed to be Battison, fled the scene, traveling south on South State Street, and pulled into a lot in the 1000 block of the street.

He abandoned his vehicle, fled on foot into a wooded area near the railroad tracks there and eluded capture.

Police identified Battison as the driver through car-ownership records.

Capt. John Norman led the investigation with assistance from the Trumbull County prosecutor’s office, and the accident investigation was handled by Patrolman Tim O’Leary.

Villecco suffered a fractured left wrist and was treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngs-town.