Victim speaks at man’s sentencing

Staff report

WARREN

Nance Darrow, 56, of Akron told Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew Logan on Tuesday that she has undergone five surgeries since a Sept. 25, 2010, traffic accident caused her severe leg injuries.

After her statement, William L. Michael Jr., 22, of Southern Boulevard in Warren, was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to serve a three-year driver’s-license suspension for causing the crash.

“Not only have I been crippled physically but financially and emotionally as well,” Darrow said. She was using crutches in court because of a surgery seven days ago resulting from the accident, she said.

Darrow was a passenger in a delivery truck that was traveling on state Route 534 in Braceville Township at 9:15 p.m. when it was struck head-on by Michael’s vehicle after Michael’s vehicle went left of center.

She was trapped in the truck, so emergency workers used a mechanical device to extricate her, said Mike Burnett, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor. The driver of the truck was not seriously injured.

Michael’s blood-alcohol level was measured at .131, which exceeds the legal limit of .08.

Michael pleaded guilty in June to aggravated vehicular assault and could have received as many as five years in prison.