Doctor indicted in boat collision fatality

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County grand jury today indicted a Poland man on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault and operating a watercraft while impaired in a May 9 collision between two boats on Berlin Reservoir that killed one man and injured another.

Indicted was Dr. Joseph F. Yurich, 36, of Hunters Hill.

The aggravated vehicular homicide charge pertains to the death of Neal Cuppett, 58, of Akron, and the aggravated vehicular assault charge pertains to injuries to Cuppett’s companion, Bruce Lindamood.

The indictment said Dr. Yurich had a blood alcohol content of .08 at the time of the crash, which is the legal intoxication threshold.

The Portage County Coroner’s Office ruled Cuppett’s death accidental due to blunt force trauma.

The reservoir straddles Mahoning and Portage counties.