Wednesday, May 27, 2015
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Jodi Weaver, whose daughter died in a rollover car crash on West Market Street on March 12, is charged with vehicular homicide in her daughter’s death.
The main reasons for the charge are the speed Weaver was traveling at the time of the crash and her failure to control her vehicle, said Lt. Jeff Cole, a Warren police spokesman. She was driving too fast but Cole said he didn’t know what her speed was.
The Warren Police Department and Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated the crash.
Weaver, 40, of Rex Boulevard Northwest, is scheduled to appear for arraignment at 9 a.m. today in Warren Municipal Court, where the charge was filed Tuesday. She has not been arrested, Cole said.
Weaver has an extensive record of traffic charges through Warren Municipal Court. She was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs in 1996 and 2003, but investigators said they did not believe alcohol was a factor in the March 12 crash.
Weaver told police she swerved to avoid a car just before the 4:30 p.m. crash, causing her to hit a pothole and lose control of the pickup truck she was driving.
But police interviewed the driver of that car, and he has not been charged, Cole said.
Weaver said the man driving the car made an obscene gesture toward her as they drove near each other just before the crash.
The truck rolled over a couple of times and came to rest against the Raider Lounge near the intersection of Austin Avenue Northwest.
Her daughter, Alyssa B. Wynn, 17, a senior at Warren G. Harding High School, died in the crash, and her son, Jonathan Wynn, 10, was injured.
If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Weaver could get up to six months in prison.
Alyssa was planning to continue her education in the fall at Pittsburgh Technical Institute.
She was a member of the Harding choir and was honored with songs from her fellow choir members at a memorial at the high school a short time after the crash.