Cortland man accused of swerving off road and killing jogger indicted

Staff report

WARREN

Russell G. Lauer III, 43, of state Route 5 in Cortland was indicted on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident, drunken driving and failure to drive in marked lanes in a crash that killed a jogger.

Lauer has been in the Trumbull County jail since the Feb. 27 accident. If he is convicted, he could get about 10 years in prison.

The crash – on Ridge Road in Fowler Township – killed Brittany Szwedko, 27, of Cortland, a public-relations worker at the Warren-Trumbull County public library.

A witness said Szwedko was off the edge of the road when Lauer struck her. Lauer’s car was “swerving and leaving the roadway” at the time.

Lauer has two previous drunken-driving convictions, a previous wreckless-operation charge, seven prior driving suspensions and two previous traffic crashes, prosecutors said.

The grand jury refused to indict Ryan D. Owens, 25, of First Street Southwest in the March 11 shooting of Brian K. Henry II, 21, of Milton Street Southwest.

Police said Owens shot Henry multiple times at an apartment on Duke Street Southwest. The shooting took place at a gathering held to mark the third anniversary of a single-car accident that killed six Warren teens on Niles Warren River Road just south of the city. Henry was one of the two people who survived the accident.

Police said that the shooting is still an open investigation.