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Man charged in October traffic killing of man raking leaves
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The driver of a van police say swerved off a South Side street in October and killed a man who was raking leaves in his front yard faces a traffic charge.
Allan D. Lee Jr., 40, of Youngstown, faces a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree misdemeanor, in the Oct. 29 death of 61-year-old Earl Douthitt.
Douthitt was killed by a van driven by Lee, as he was raking leaves in the front yard of his Glenwood Avenue home.
Lee was issued a summons Tuesday. A court date has not been set yet, according to municipal court records.
Lt. William Ross, head of the department’s Traffic Unit, said Lee is being charged with failing to control his van. City Prosecutor Dana Lantz said any misdemeanor traffic charge in the city that leads to a death is an aggravated vehicular homicide.
Officer Morris Lee, who investigated the case and is no relation to the accused, said it took a long time to bring charges because of tests police were doing to determine if Allan Lee was speeding or if there were any other defects in his van that may have caused him to lose control.
Morris Lee said tests were done by the Ohio State Highway Patrol to determine how fast the van may have been traveling but it never was able to determine a speed. There also were no defects in the van that would have caused it to swerve and hit Douthitt, Morris Lee said.
Allan Lee also was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident, investigators said.
Police said the van was traveling south on Glenwood Avenue when Allan Lee lost control between Willis and Delason avenues and hit Douthitt.
Neighbors expressed sadness at the death of Douthitt, who played for the Chicago Bears for a year in the 1970s and was frequently seen taking care of his yard.
A search of municipal court records show only a parking ticket for Allan Lee in 1987.