Man pleads in case of wreck on way to hospital

June 4, 2016 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Johnny Favors is undergoing dialysis treatments, and when he was bleeding April 16, he was told to get to a hospital right away.

So Favors got in his brothers’ car and began going to the hospital.

But he has no license or insurance, and was involved in an accident in which he didn’t stop but instead kept driving to the hospital.

Favors, 59, of Youngstown, pleaded no-contest Friday in municipal court to charges of driving under suspension and failure to obey traffic- control devices. He was sentenced to fines of $200 plus court costs.

Favors wasn’t the only person that day with a medical condition. The driver of the other car he was accused of colliding with, Charles Cline, said his wife was 37 weeks pregnant at the time of the accident at Homestead and East Indianola avenues.

Cline said after the accident his wife went into premature labor. She eventually gave birth May 2 to a healthy baby, Cline said.

Jennifer Ciccone, Favors’ attorney, said her client has a kidney condition that is terminal unless he gets treatment, including a transplant and dialysis every other day. She said when he was bleeding the day after one of the dialysis treatments, he was told to get to a hospital right away.

Reports said Favors ran a stop sign and collided with Cline’s vehicle, but Favors disputed that. He did not dispute, however, that he continued driving and that he does not have a license or insurance.

Favors said he has not driven since he became ill in 1992, and said he never went back to get his license. He said he is caring for a 9-year-old child right now on his own because the child’s mother is hooked on drugs. He apologized to the Clines and said he is glad no one was hurt.

“I’m just trying to keep living, that’s all,” Favors said.

Judge Elizabeth Kobly told Favors she understands he has larger issues he is facing, but she stressed that he cannot be driving unless he has a license and insurance.