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Cortland man to be arraigned today in Trumbull pedestrian crash
By ED RUNYAN
CORTLAND
Russell G. Lauer III, 43, of state Route 5 in Cortland will be arraigned at 1 p.m. today in Central District Court in the Saturday afternoon accident that has now led to the death of a 27-year-old.
Lauer was originally charged with aggravated vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident. But on Tuesday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol added charges of drunken driving and failing to drive in marked lanes.
Saturday’s crash occurred at 12:30 p.m. on Ridge Road in Fowler Township. The patrol announced Tuesday night that Brittany Szwedko, 27, of Cortland, died Tuesday in St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
She had worked for 10 years in the public-relations department of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, said Cheryl Bush, public-relations manager, who referred other questions to the Szwedko family.
The patrol said Szwedko was off the edge of the road when she was struck, and the vehicle that hit her continued north until a witness to the accident stopped the vehicle near Bradley-Brownley Road.
According to an affidavit filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas court, Rickey L. Bryant Jr. of Vienna was a passenger in a car being driven by his wife when they saw Lauer’s 2005 Chevrolet Trail Blazer “swerving and leaving the roadway” before it struck Szwedko.
Rickey Bryant told his wife to stop at the accident scene, where he flagged down a passing motorist to call 911 and stay with Szwedko. Then he and his wife drove in pursuit of Lauer, the affidavit said.
When they caught up to Lauer, Rickey Bryant forced Lauer to stop at the intersection and yelled at him, telling Lauer he had just hit someone.
“Yeah, I know. Move,” Lauer reportedly told Bryant.
Lauer tried to put his vehicle in reverse and leave, but Bryant struggled with Lauer, even striking him in the face, police said. Lauer put his car in park, and Bryant got the keys. But Lauer found another set of keys in the center console and put them in the ignition, Bryant said.
They struggled again, and Bryant struck Lauer in the face a second time, the affidavit said. Officers with the Fowler Police Department arrived shortly afterward and took control of the situation. Lauer went to the hospital but was arrested Monday and put in the Trumbull County Jail.
Sgt. Patrick Abel of the Southington Post of the patrol said the patrol has not determined whether Ricky Bryant will be charged for assaulting Lauer.
“That will be left up to a prosecutor,” Abel said of the assistant prosecutor who handles Central District Court in Cortland.
“From our end, we’re just dealing with the crash itself. We’re not going to initiate anything” relating to charges against Bryant.
Lauer was convicted of drunken driving in 2006 in Warren Municipal Court, according to a search of local court records.