Woman pleads guilty to vehicular manslaughter

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Canfield

The woman who police said caused a fatal crash in Beaver Township has pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter.

Ashley Ratkowski, 24, of Austintown, pleaded Friday in Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield, said Nick Modarelli, assistant county prosecutor.

Ratkowski was charged in October 2009 in the September 2009 crash that killed Lewis Morris, 80, and his wife, Elizabeth, 77, both of Leetonia, who died at the scene.

Ratkowski was driving a Dodge Caliber north on state Route 46 in Beaver, and Thomas Johnson, of Warren, was driving a tractor-trailer in the same direction on the day of the accident, according to police.

Reports said Ratkowski traveled left of center and struck the truck driven by Lewis Morris, causing the truck to go left of center and strike the tractor- trailer driven by Johnson.

Modarelli said Ratkowski was sentenced to 180 days in jail, which was suspended, a $1,000 fine, 80 hours of community service, two years of probation and two years of license suspension.

The prosecutor said investigators checked her cell-phone records for that day and ran drug and alcohol tests.

Ratkowski was charged with a misdemeanor and given a suspended jail sentence because Modarelli said the investigation turned up no evidence to show any of those “aggravated circumstances.”

“We found no drugs or alcohol in her system,” he said. “There was no evidence of cell-phone use. She wasn’t texting or making a call.”