YOUNGSTOWN — Four Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers testified Thursday about blood evidence they obtained, and statements Michael G. Malvasi II made about a 2017 crash.

The testimony during a hearing in the aggravated vehicular homicide case will help Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court determine whether to suppress any of the evidence leading up to Malvasi’s Aug. 3 trial date.

His attorney, John Juhasz, is planning to file an additional request for evidence suppression, court officials said.

Malvasi, 29, of Timber Run Drive in Canfield, is accused of crashing his vehicle after failing to negotiate a curve on Shields Road in Canfield east of state Route 46 on Nov. 18, 2017, killing passenger Ryan Lanzo, 23, of Boardman. Malvasi is accused of being intoxicated at the time, failing to stop after the accident and tampering with evidence. The last charge accuses Malvasi of tampering with Lanzo’s body.

Prosecutors said Malvasi was driving a white Mercedesz Benz at the time of the early-morning crash, walked a mile or so home from the crash scene, leaving Lanzo behind; got another vehicle and returned to the scene — then drove Lanzo to Malvasi’s house.

When he got home, he awakened his father, Michael Malvasi, now 57, who told the younger Malvasi to go to bed. The elder Malvasi drove Lanzo to a St. Elizabeth emergency center in Austintown, where Lanzo was pronounced dead on arrival, prosecutors said.

Police first learned of the crash at 3:12 a.m. when a woman called 911 to report it. When police arrived, they found Malvasi’s white Mercedes Benz with severe damage but no people.

Troopers and Canfield police officers went to the house where father and son lived and eventually spoke with the younger Malvasi, who told them about the accident and what drugs and alcohol he had ingested. He was then taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where a blood sample was taken for diagnostic purposes.

About 7:45 a.m., Trooper Mike Gurlea interviewed Malvasi. Troopers also obtained a search warrant for Malvasi’s blood, which another trooper received from the hospital later that day.

In his motion to suppress evidence, Juhasz states that the blood was illegally obtained, in part because troopers had no evidence that Malvasi was the driver, nor evidence of impaired driving. Police also did not have probable cause to arrest the younger Malvasi, Juhasz stated.

Troopers also did not obtain the blood samples legally because the law requires such samples to be collected within two hours of the time of the alleged violation, Juhasz stated in the filing.

Juhasz also stated that the interview the younger Malvasi gave to troopers at his house was coerced, partly because he was “in a fog, having been injured and administered drugs.” He suffered a head injury and had been administered two types of opioids at the hospital, the filing states.

Assistant Prosecutor Robert Andrews filed a response stating Malvasi told a police officer he had consumed six beers, three or four shots of alcohol and smoked marijuana before the accident. He told a state trooper something similar.

“Surely that is probable cause for the search warrants” for Malvasi’s blood, Andrews stated.

Regarding the Ohio Department of Health regulations for collecting blood samples, Andrews said the evidence will show there was “substantial compliance” but that “rigid compliance” has been held to be “not a prerequisite to … admissability.”

All of Malvasi’s statements to police were “freely, volunarily knowingly and intelligently made,” Andrews stated.

“While he may have still been intoxicated, had been given small amounts of medication and suffered some minor injuries, it is clear he understood what he was saying, what the circumstances were and what he should or should not say and / or do,” Andrews stated.

Among those testifying was former 28-year state trooper Kenneth Robbins, who discussed going to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to obtain the blood sample.