43
Coroner identifies ‘John Doe’ killed on Route 422 in Warren
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Police say Thomas F. Everidge, 54, of 6486 state Route 87 in Kinsman Township, was crossing U.S. Route 422 near Adelaide Avenue Southeast when a vehicle traveling on Route 422 hit and killed him.
A report on the accident has still not been released by Warren police, but The Vindicator has learned that Everidge has a friend living on Hazelwood Drive in Warren and sometimes stays there. It’s possible he was visiting there about the time of the 7 p.m. Friday accident, police say.
The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office on Thursday issued a news release identifying Everidge as the pedestrian killed, after he went unidentified for several days. He was identified after several news media outlets published or broadcast images of him, and people who knew him contacted authorities.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Ohr of the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office thanked the public and news media for helping identify Everidge, saying fingerprints and DNA can help, but it can take weeks to get those results.
Everidge had never been charged with any criminal offenses in Warren.
Deputies with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office working in the Kinsman area and officers with the Kinsman Police Department, however, have dealt with him and his mother, Carol Rodgers, 77, on a regular basis for about the past three years.
According to police reports, officers were called to the house Rodgers and Everidge shared on Route 7 at least eight times since October for disputes involving the two.
The calls generally involved Rodgers asking for her son to be removed because of his intoxication, police said.
At 2:25 p.m. Jan. 1, Rodgers asked for Everidge to be removed, and an officer observed Rodgers and Everidge to be intoxicated. Everidge said he had nowhere to go but his friend’s house in Warren, but the officer refused to be a “taxi service” by driving Everidge there.
Everidge was charged with disorderly conduct and was convicted the following month in Eastern District Court.
Everidge was also convicted in June 2011 on two counts of operating a motor vehicle impaired and was charged with OVI at least five other times in Trumbull County since 2010.
In a June 2011 case, Everidge’s blood-alcohol registered .243. In October 2010, it registered .259 — more than three times the state legal limit of 0.08.