Girard prosecutor gets Liberty pedestrian death case

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy,com

LIBERTY

The Ohio State Highway Patrol has turned over its investigation into the Jan. 28 traffic-related death of pedestrian Amy Huffman of Liberty to Girard Municipal Court Prosecutor Michael Bloom.

The question he will have to determine is whether the driver of the pickup truck that hit and killed Huffman should face criminal charges, specifically for having the drug buprenorphine in his system. Among the brand names for buprenorphine is Suboxone, which is best known as a treatment for opiate addiction.

But a Vindicator review of the 49-page report of the accident, investigated by state troopers and a reconstructionist with the patrol, raises other questions about the behavior of the driver and the patrol’s inclination to ask follow-up questions about that behavior.

The driver, Ryan M. Tolone, 28, of Girard is a corrections officer at the Trumbull County jail. He was also a police officer with the Brookfield Police Department at the time of the accident and had just come from a meeting of the Brookfield Police Department just before the accident, he told investigators. Tolone resigned from the department in April.

Tolone was southbound on Belmont Avenue, about a mile north of Tibbetts-Wick Road, when he hit Huffman, 45, of Tibbetts-Wick. A reconstruction of the scene indicated Huffman was walking in the roadway, on the driver’s side of the edge line with her back to traffic.

Walking with traffic instead of against traffic was cited in the report as a primary “contributing circumstance” of the accident because she was walking on the “wrong side of the road,” the report said.

Blood-test results also showed she had alcohol and the active ingredient for marijuana in her system. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.093. The legal amount for being an intoxicated driver is 0.08.

Tolone had no alcohol in his blood, but he had buprenorphine at a level of “greater than 500” nanograms per milliliter, the report said. Under “contributing circumstances” for Tolone, the highway patrol indicated “none.” Tolone said he was driving 50 in the 55-mile-per-hour zone.

The first person to respond to the scene was Patrolman Chad McGarry of the Liberty Police Department, who was dispatched at 10:32 p.m. to a car-versus-pedestrian accident at 6586 Belmont Ave., where a man named Doug Kiser flagged him down near Huffman’s body in the snow off the edge of the roadway.

Huffman was later pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Later it was determined that after Tolone hit Huffman, Tolone continued south on Belmont for an unspecified distance, then stopped and called Kiser of Liberty, an acquaintance of his.

Kiser arrived five to 10 minutes later, Tolone said. Sgt. Troy Sexton of the highway patrol’s Southington Post, said he interviewed Tolone at the accident scene, and Tolone said Kiser brought him back to the scene.

Tolone’s statements to Sexton suggested Tolone never saw Huffman at the time of the crash. He was unable to describe what direction Huffman was walking or whether she was walking or standing, whether she was on the driver’s side of the white line or the berm side.

He said he took no evasive action, though he did say she was “near the white line.” Sexton didn’t directly ask whether Tolone saw Huffman or not, according to the witness statement, and Sexton said in a recent interview he doesn’t know if Tolone saw her or not.

When the sergeant asked Tolone what kind of clothing Huffman was wearing, Tolone said he learned that “when I came back.” He explained that he came back to the accident scene “to find out what I hit” after calling Kiser.

The interview didn’t contain any indication that Sexton asked Tolone why he called Kiser instead of going back to the scene on his own, and Sexton told The Vindicator he doesn’t know the answer to that question.

When asked if he was distracted by anything at the time of the crash, Tolone said, “No sir. I did receive a text message.” When Tolone was asked whether he was looking at the phone at the time of the crash, Tolone said no.

Sexton said he did not confiscate Tolone’s phone to determine whether Tolone had viewed a text message at around the time of the crash, saying Tolone was adamant that he had not been distracted by it.

Sexton said he didn’t know the test results came back indicating that Tolone had buprenorphine in his system until The Vindicator made him aware of it. He said follow-up would be needed to determine whether Tolone had a prescription for the drug.

“It’s obvious we’re going to have to re-interview” Tolone, he said.

At the time of the crash, Sexton said there were no “red flags” indicating a reason to question whether Tolone was impaired, because his demeanor didn’t indicate he was.

In a second interview, Sexton said an attempt was made to interview Tolone about the buprenorphine, but Tolone had not yet made contact with investigators. He said the question about the buprenorphine in Tolone’s blood had been referred to Bloom.

The web site of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says buprenorphine is an opioid that can produce euphoria and respiratory depresssion but at lower levels than heroin or methodone.

“At low doses, buprenorphine produces sufficient [pharmaceutical] effect to enable opioid-addicted individuals to discontinue the misuse of opioids without experiencing withdrawal symptoms,” it says.

The web site drugs.com says buprenorphine “may cause drowsiness or dizziness. Do not drive, operate machinery, or do anything else that could be dangerous until you know how you react to buprenorphine.”

Lt. Brian Holt, commander of the Southington Post, said last week investigators have multiple ways to determine whether Tolone was using buprenorphine legally or not, but he declined to describe those ways.

When asked whether Tolone got any less rigorous questioning because he works in law enforcement, Holt said, “That has no bearing on how our investigation will conclude or how it was handled.”

When told of the buprenorphone finding in Tolone’s blood, Sheriff Thomas Altiere said he was not aware of it. When asked whether the finding would affect Tolone’s job as a corrections officer, he said he could not answer that because of medical privacy laws.

He said employees are required to report any medications they use to their supervisors, but he could not discuss whether Tolone had reported using buprenorphine.

Chief Dan Faustino of Brookfield Township said Tolone had worked as a reserve officer for him starting in January 2009 and became a part-time officer in July 2011. Tolone worked two to three days per month as a part-time officer.

Faustino said he requires his officers to report to him if they are using a drug that would affect their judgment. He doesn’t recall any conversation like that with Tolone.

Huffman’s daughter, Emily Huffman, told the highway patrol her mother had been at a residence near the crash scene before the accident and was walking home at the time. Amy Huffman was “definitely intoxicated” and “extremely upset” about the recent death of her granddaughter but “not suicidal,” her daughter said.

Tolone’s truck showed evidence of the crash: the right side of the front bumper was pushed back one inch, and there was damage to the front headlight assembly and the right-side mirror, which had hair strands in it. The lower right of the windshield was cracked.

The data from the truck’s onboard computer was obtained, but it didn’t provide any evidence because it activates only when the air bags are deployed, Sexton said.