Trumbull worker on leave after fatal accident in Champion

Staff report

WARREN

A sanitarian for the Trumbull County Combined Health District has been on paid administrative leave since just before a misdemeanor vehicular-homicide charge was filed against him for an accident in the parking lot of a Champion gas station that killed a pedestrian.

Steven R. Kramer, 55, of Hiram, was charged Nov. 14 in Warren Municipal Court with misdemeanor vehicular homicide in the 12:12 p.m. Oct. 11 accident.

Kramer pleaded not guilty Nov. 16 and was released after posting a $5,000 personal recognizance bond, meaning he didn’t have to pay anything.

Frank Migliozzi, county health commissioner, said he placed Kramer on leave when Warren prosecutors contacted him in mid-November to find out if Kramer was his employee and advised that Kramer was going to be charged.

Kramer will remain on paid leave until the criminal charge is resolved, Migliozzi said.

Kramer was working at the time of the accident and was driving a county-owned 2017 Ford Focus.

A Champion police report says Kramer was backing out of a parking spot in front of Speedway, 4504 Mahoning Ave., when he struck George Roosevelt Jr., 84, of Orwell, who was walking toward the Speedway building from the gas pumps. Roosevelt was taken by ambulance to Trumbull Regional Medical Center.

Roosevelt’s obituary says he died Oct. 30 in UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh from injuries he suffered in an automobile accident. He had been a teacher, having retired from Grand Valley High School, his obituary says.

Kramer returns to court at 10:15 a.m. Jan. 4.