Driver pleads in fatal crash
Faces up to 12 years in prison after car crushed man, dog in their Howland home
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HOWLAND -- A Champion man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to criminal charges linked to driving his 2006 Honda Civic into a Howland home the night of Sept. 23, 2020, crushing a man and his dog to their deaths in the basement.
Damien L. Fish, 24, of 5265 N. Park Ave. Extension, appeared with his attorney David Rouzzo before Trumbull Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay, who will sentence Fish after a background investigation.
Fish faces up to 12 years in prison and a possible lifetime driver's license suspension after being convicted of one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of operating a vehicle while impaired. Fish is accused of crashing into 1313 DeForest Road SE, killing Matthew Burke, 45, who was on Skype with his finacee at the time.
The defendant, who remains in Trumbull County jail pending the posting of a $25,000 bond, appeared in court with a neck brace, for the two broken bones in his neck that he suffered in the accident. He has been in jail since Sept. 29, 2020, records show.
In a memorandum to the court, assistant Prosecutor Michael Burnett wrote Fish was driving eastbound in an erratic manner, lost control and sent the vehicle off the road -- ultimately crashing into the DeForest Road home. The car hit the house with such force that it burst through the wall, crashed through the floor and plummeted into the basement, where it crushed and killed the victim and his dog as they were in bed watching a movie.
"This already tragic chain of events is even more heartbreaking when it was learned the victim was on video chat with his fiancee, Misty Young, at the time of the crash. The woman witnessed the crash via video chat and could hear Burke crying out for help before he died," Burnett wrote.
It was Young who reported the crash to 911 from where she was -- in Canada. According to a spokeswoman with the victim's advocate office of the prosecutor, Young cannot make it to the courtroom because of COVID-19 restrictions, but she will be able to submit a written victim's impact statement that will be considered by the judge before sentencing Fish.
Troopers noted a strong odor of alcohol when they spoke with Fish at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where Burnett said Fish recorded a 0.233 blood-alcohol content level. The legal limit for driving in Ohio is 0.08.
While interviewing with the troopers about the accident, Burnett wrote Fish refused to answer more than the most basic questions and at times launched into profanity-laced tirades. When the trooper advised Fish he had killed someone, Burnett wrote the defendant shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh well."
When hospital staff attempted to draw blood, the memorandum states, the defendant became loud and obnoxious, refusing to sit still. When the trooper left the room, the defendant gave him the "middle finger" telling him to "get out of my room."
The memorandum states Fish also tested positive for a prescription tranquilizer, the psychoactive compounds in cannabis and oxycodone.