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Grand jury to decide if woman will be tried in hit-and-run
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Nicole Dowell
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Camorin McGhee
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A Trumbull County grand jury will decide whether Nicole M. Dowell, 22, will be tried on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and a traffic-signal violation.
Dowell, of Pershing Avenue Southwest, is charged with leaving the scene after driving her car into 12-year-old Camorin A. McGhee as he stepped into the crosswalk on Tod Avenue Southwest on Jan. 7.
Camorin was walking to his school, the Jefferson K-8 building, when the accident happened about 3 p.m. Witnesses said the driver who hit him got out of the vehicle and looked at the boy, then drove off.
Dowell was cited by a Warren patrolman a short time later when he located her in Lordstown. Another driver helped locate Dowell by following her car from the accident scene.
Dowell’s hearing Tuesday was short, with no testimony. Judge Terry Ivanchak of Warren Municipal Court said prosecutors and Dowell agreed to have her case bound over to a grand jury.
Dowell stood before Judge Terry Ivanchak with her attorney, Nancy E. Yakubek, and turned her head to avoid being photographed by news media.
If Dowell is convicted of leaving the scene, she could be sentenced to up to one year in jail. Trumbull County and Warren court records indicate Dowell has had no previous traffic or criminal record.
Yakubek told Judge Ivanchak last month that Dowell is an honor student at Ashland College.
Dowell remains free on a personal recognizance bond, meaning at no cost.
Camorin and his mother, Carrie McGhee, attended the hearing.
Afterward, Carrie McGhee said she has faith that the courts will handle the matter “the way it’s supposed to, and I have faith in God.”
She said Camorin has not been cleared to return to school yet but is progressing. A doctor’s appointment Thursday might indicate when Camorin can return, she said.
One reason he’s being kept at home is because his spleen was damaged in the accident and had to be surgically removed. As a result, his immune system isn’t as strong as it was, so it’s important to keep him away from flu viruses and infection.
Camorin said the worst thing about his recovery is not being able to go outside to play.
“I have a lot of restrictions, but it’s getting better,” he said.
Witnesses told police Camorin was crossing Tod Avenue Southwest at Fifth Street when a vehicle came through the traffic light heading south and struck Camorin with a glancing blow.
Camorin was returning to the Jefferson K-8 building from home to walk his younger sister home from school. Camorin had walked home from school earlier, after he’d been released at 2 p.m.
The car skimmed the boy and spun him, police said. He was thrown when the 2007 Chevrolet Blazer’s mirror hit him, and he ended up next to the curb on a manhole cover.