WARREN — Dennis Currey Jr., 24, of Eastland Avenue pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated vehicular assault and drunken driving in a Dec. 26, 2024, crash on state Route 11 in Liberty Township that left the driver of another car with a traumatic brain injury.

The crash took place in the left northbound lane of Route 11 when Currey rear-ended another car also in the left lane in front of him. The 10:30 p.m. crash caused both cars to come to rest in the median of the highway, according to an Ohio State Highway Patrol crash report.

An 18-year-old Southington woman, Gabrielle Hromada, was the driver of the car Currey hit. She suffered a traumatic brain injury, Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Mike Burnett said during Currey’s plea hearing Wednesday before Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice.

Currey suffered no apparent injury, according to the crash report. Currey’s blood alcohol level was measured at 0.161, double the legal limit to drive in Ohio, according to the crash report. A “contributing circumstance” listed for Currey was “unsafe speed,” according to the crash report, though the report does not give an estimated speed Currey was traveling.

The report states that Currey was distracted by something “outside of the vehicle” but does not state what he was distracted by. Currey was not using any safety equipment. Hromada was wearing a shoulder and lap belt.

Rice was handling the case for Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean O’Brien, who was not available Wednesday. No sentencing date for Currey is currently listed in court records.

Aggravated vehicular assault is a third-degree felony, and Currey could get up to five years in prison on that offense. His driver’s license will be suspended for at least two years, Rice said. Rice said prison is “presumed necessary and is mandatory.”

Currey also must serve at least three days in jail on the OVI charge or participate in a drug intervention program, and he will have to pay a minimum fine of $375. His driver’s license must be suspended for one to three years, the judge said.

Burnett told the judge that Currey struck Hromada’s vehicle from behind “at a high rate of speed. This actually caused a traumatic brain injury to Gabrielle Hromada.”

Burnett said troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol responded to the scene.

“They found indicators that (Currey) was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They took him to a testing facility, where he took a breath test, and registered a 0.161 blood alcohol content.”

At the end of the hearing, Currey was handcuffed. His attorney, Roger Bauer, asked Rice to reconsider revoking Currey’s bond, saying he is 24 years old and has a job, “never been in trouble before. He has appeared for every court hearing.”

But Rice said, “He has caused serious physical injuries, and it is a mandatory prison term. His bond is revoked.”

Currey was taken to the county jail.