OSHP: Man in vehicle crashes twice while fleeing

HOWLAND — A man in a vehicle fleeing from the Ohio State Highway Patrol early Tuesday crashed twice on Adrian Drive SE.

A patrol spokesman said the incident began at 12:55 a.m. Tuesday at East Market Street and North Road at a traffic stop where the driver took off.

The spokesman said the trooper pursued the driver, who crashed his vehicle twice.

The first crash was at Adrian Drive SE near North Road, and the second crash was on Adrian Drive at the dead end. The vehicle hit a tree and a utility pole, knocking out power for about 800 homes in the area for several hours.

The spokesman said the driver was apprehended and taken to the hospital and then taken into custody.

Former Falls manager to appear in court

NEWTON FALLS — Former village manager Pamela Priddy is scheduled to appear in Newton Falls Municipal Court next month on a first-degree misdemeanor criminal charge of having an unlawful interest in a public contract.

Village Prosecutor Jeff Limbian said he filed the charge Friday in Newton Falls Municipal Court against Priddy after the Ohio Ethics Commission did an investigation and forwarded the charge to him to be filed in the court. Limbian said the case is scheduled to be heard at 9 a.m. Feb. 9.

The ethics commission was investigating Priddy regarding allegations the company she owned, WJL Administrative Services LLC, and later sold and she helped direct a contract from the village to the company while she still owned it.

Priddy could not be reached for comment.

Limbiana said a first-degree misdemeanor charge includes a monetary fine and / or six months in jail.

Warren man charged with animal cruelty

WARREN — A man suspected of abandoning a dog at a West Market gas station was charged Tuesday.

According to a social media post by Healthy Hearts and Paws Project president and CEO Jason Cooke, Jody Elliott, 47, was charged with second-degree abandoning animals and fifth-degree prohibitions concerning companion animals.

According to a police report, an officer met Cooke at Sunoco for a stray dog, and the officer checked video from the gas station’s surveillance camera and saw a black Chevrolet Cruze pull into the parking lot.

The report states the vehicle’s driver could be seen punching a dog and throwing it into the front seat passenger side of the vehicle, then entering the gas station and returning a short time later.

As the man walked up to the vehicle, he looked into the window and began punching it, opening the door for the dog, which exited the vehicle, according to the report.

The man got gas and left the dog in the parking lot, the report states. It was later taken into custody by Cooke.

Staff reports