Woman pleads innocent in fatal accident

A 30-year-old Mecca Township woman pleaded innocent Tuesday to three charges related to the death of pedestrian Luke Macaluso of Leavittsburg June 25, 2010, on Center of the World South Road.

Brandy L. Schneider of Geauga Portage Easterly Road was secretly indicted last week by a Trumbull County grand jury on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident and tampering with evidence.

The aggravated vehicular homicide charge accuses her of having been under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident.

She’s accused of killing Macaluso, 19, of Center of The World South Road, by hitting him with her car as he walked south on that road at about 1 a.m.

Macaluso, a freshman at the University of Akron who was home for the summer, was pronounced dead at the scene after being thrown about 20 feet by the impact. Macaluso was walking with his girlfriend, Brittany Russell, 18, of Warren, at the time of the accident. Russell was not injured.

The accident happened near a railroad crossing just south of state Route 5 in Braceville Township, about a mile east of the Ohio Turnpike.

If convicted of the charges, Schneider could get up to 18 years in prison.

Schneider was arraigned Tuesday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Judge McKay set her bond at $15,000.