Highway patrol releases details of early-Monday cruiser crash

Staff report

WARREN

The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Southington Post is continuing to investigate the 2:08 a.m. crash Monday involving a Howland police cruiser and another vehicle at the intersection of North Road and U.S. Route 422.

Howland Police officer Rick Mahan was driving his cruiser eastbound on Route 422 on his way to the nearby Madden’s Bar and Grill in Niles with lights and siren activated.

He was attempting to assist Niles police with a shooting just before 2 a.m. near the bar that killed Clayton Bender, 23, of Kenilworth Avenue.

The cruiser and a car driven by Anthony Butcher, 18, collided in the center of the intersection, said Trooper Devin Campbell. Butcher’s vehicle then spun into a vehicle waiting to turn driven by Allison Bort, 18. Butcher was traveling south on North Road.

Mahan and Butcher were both transported to St. Joseph Warren Hospital and treated for bumps and bruises, Campbell said. Bort was not injured.

The damage to the cruiser and Butcher’s vehicle was disabling with the officer’s vehicle having the worst damage, Campbell said. Air bags were deployed in both vehicles, and they were both towed from the scene. There was minor damage to Bort’s vehicle.

Campbell said he expects a decision on who was at fault should be made within a few days.