Woman pleads in '12 pedestrian death

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A woman charged with killing a pedestrian on Midlothian Boulevard in 2012 entered guilty pleas to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges Monday.

Barbara Pusser, 57, of Arden Boulevard, will be sentenced to seven years in prison after admitting to charges of driving under the influence, aggravated vehicular homicide, tampering with evidence and forgery.

A sentencing date before Judge Lou D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has not been set. The judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation for Pusser.

Pusser is accused of striking Robert Boak, 33, of Austintown, on Aug. 13, 2012, as Boak was walking along the road.

Another vehicle driven by a Boardman man then struck Boak. Boak later died at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

The accident happened about 11:30 p.m. just west of Lake Park Road.

Jeffrey Davis, an assistant county prosecutor, said Pusser lied to officers at the scene and gave her sister’s name to them, which is why she faces the forgery and tampering-with-evidence charges.

Court records also show that Pusser had a previous DUI charge in 1997 in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown.