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Grand jury to hear crash case

Weathersfield man facing OVI, child endangering charges

NILES — A Weathersfield man involved in a crash that sent an adult and two juveniles to the hospital in late June will have his case bound over to the county’s grand jury.

According to a Facebook post from the Niles Police Department, Samuel Sipes, 24, was taken into custody by the department’s detective bureau in Geneva, Ohio, on several charges of aggravated vehicular assault, two counts of endangering children and OVI — all felonies.

Additional charges could follow, according to Niles police Capt. John Marshall.

According to a police report, officers were called to the area near the North Main Street Dunkin Donuts for a vehicle crashing into a utility pole, with callers adding that the vehicle struck a residence.

Witnesses told officers that the driver fled the scene after telling his female passenger, who was ejected from the truck, that he was going to harm himself as a result of the accident.

The report states the woman and her two children were located by police, and she and a 2-year-old girl had suspected serious injuries, but the 5-year-old was already out of the vehicle upon initial contact.

Witnesses reported that the vehicle failed to navigate a curve, ran off the right side of the road and then overcorrected — spinning across both lanes, striking a utility pole on the west side of the road, and finally coming to rest, according to the report.

The report states officers contacted Sipes, the driver, who told officers he was going to take his own life, admitting he was drinking at a party when an argument ensued between he and the woman.

Sipes admitted he had five Twisted Teas before driving, and officers detained him because of his comments and eventually put him under arrest for a suspected OVI. He took a breath sample, the report states, giving a blood alcohol reading of 0.17 — twice the legal limit of 0.08.

Officers signed off on placing Sipes on an involuntary psychiatric hold based on his self-harm comments, according to the report.

Sipes was eventually transferred to a clinic in Geneva, and he was arrested on his warrants upon being discharged, according to Marshall.

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