Friday, January 15, 2016
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
A South Schenley Avenue man arrested Tuesday on his eighth DUI charge remained hospitalized Thursday night with a police hold on him after a magistrate had issued a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court Wednesday morning.
The Youngstown Municipal Court website shows Magistrate Anthony Sertick issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Daniel Ohle, 51, after he did not show up for his arraignment.
Ohle, who police said drove a wrong-way, southbound van that rammed a northbound SUV at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Madison Avenue Expressway, suffered a broken leg.
Preliminary blood tests drawn at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital showed Ohle had a blood-alcohol content of 0.375, which is more than four times the legal limit of 0.08.
Lt. Brian Butler of the city police called Thursday afternoon to tell The Vindicator that he had erroneously said earlier in the day that Ohle was still at large.
Butler said Ohle missed his arraignment because he was hospitalized for his injuries from the crash. Besides the Youngstown case, Ohle has a warrant for his arrest from Pennsylvania, Butler added.
The woman driving the SUV and her children, 5 years old and 10 months old, who were her passengers, were not seriously hurt.
The SUV spun several times before it came to rest in the middle of the freeway and was heavily damaged.
“Given the estimated speed and severity of the accident, it is miraculous all parties survived,” Officer Brian Ferrari wrote in his crash report.
Court records show Ohle has never been jailed in any of his previous DUI cases.