Burghill man indicted in pedestrian fatality near former RG mill


By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Truck driver Charles W. Hillyer, 46, of state Route 7 in Burghill, has pleaded not guilty to failure to stop after an accident in the death of a pedestrian pushing a bicycle along Austintown-Warren Road late last fall.

Hillyer was indicted secretly by a Trumbull County grand jury last week in the death of Tony Wells, 25, of McDonald, who also had an address on Martin Street Southwest in Warren. If he’s convicted, Hillyer could get several years in prison.

Sgt. Ronald Schneider of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigative Bureau in Southington said Hillyer was driving a dump truck for Arrowhead Trucking of Cortland south on Austintown-Warren Road in Warren Township at 6:20 a.m. Dec. 4 with another truck from Arrowhead behind him when they passed Wells.

Hillyer said he never saw Wells but felt a “bump or bounce in his trailer.” Their trucks were empty, and they were headed to the Arcelor Mittal coke plant farther south on Austintown-Warren Road to acquire a load, Schneider said.

Hillyer didn’t immediately know he hit Wells, but the driver behind him made him aware of it later, Schneider said.

Investigators went to Arcelor Mittal and acquired a list of trucks that had entered the gate that morning and spoke to the drivers of those trucks, who drove for Big Blue Trucking. There was no indication the trucks were involved in the accident, however.

But a driver from Big Blue told investigators he saw two Arrowhead trucks that “swerved around something in the area of the crash,” so investigators went to Arrowhead Trucking, where they obtained phone numbers of two of their drivers, according to the highway patrol crash report.

Investigators tracked down Hillyer and spoke to him four days later, Schneider said. The other Arrowhead driver also spoke with investigators, saying he saw Wells’ body as it “came out from under Hillyer’s [dual] rear tires.”

Though the patrol originally thought Wells was riding a bicycle at the time of the accident, the patrol’s report says he was walking beside it at the time. The bicycle ended up in the grass beside the roadway undamaged.

Wells was walking in the roadway on the truck driver’s side of the white road line, wearing dark clothing and was “not readily visible,” Schneider said. It was still dark. There is only a small berm on the side of the road at that location, which is near the former RG Steel blast furnace.

Wells also was walking on the wrong side of the road, according to Ohio law, Schneider said. Pedestrians should walk facing traffic instead of with traffic, he noted.

Hillyer’s truck was matched up with physical evidence from the scene, Schneider said. A tire print in Wells’ clothing matched the tire on Hillyer’s truck.

Hillyer was released from the Trumbull County Jail after posting $15,000 bond.

By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

» Accept
» Learn More