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WARREN -- A Sharpsville man and former police officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to vehicular homicide in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office stated in a news release that Joseph Yuran, 55, of Sharpsville, Pa., a former Pa. state police officer, pleaded guilty to the second-degree aggravated vehicular homicide felony and a misdemeanor OVI charge in connection to a fatal November 2023 crash on U.S. Route 422 and state Route 305 in Southington that killed 23-year-old Tyler Richmond.
Yuran, in Judge Ronald J. Rice's courtroom, faces a mandatory prison term of up to 12 years and a potential lifetime driver's license suspension, according to the prosecutor's office. He will be sentenced after undergoing a background investigation conducted by probation officers.
The crash report from the Ohio State Highway Patrol states Richmond's Chevrolet Malibu, which was heading south on 422 about 11 p.m., was struck by a Dodge Ram pickup driven by Yuran that went through the stop sign on Route 305. Yuran's blood-alcohol content was recorded as .196, well above the legal driving limit of .08.
Body camera footage from Ohio State Highway Patrol shows Yuran admitting to troopers he had been drinking that night as he was heading from Warren to Hermitage, Pa., at the time of the crash, a police report states.
Sitting in the back of an emergency vehicle, Yuran said he couldn't remember how much he drank, but he told the trooper it was "too much," according to the report. He told troopers he didn't feel buzzed or intoxicated but admitted he shouldn't have been driving.
The witnesses on scene indicated that Yuran had initiated the crash.