YOUNGSTOWN — Charleston A. Jennings, 37, of Youngstown went on trial Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on two counts of felonious assault, accused of driving into the vehicle of a man with whom he was feuding.

The other man’s 3-month-old daughter was in a car seat in the back of the vehicle, where it was struck, Kevin Trapp, assistant county prosecutor, told jurors during opening statements Tuesday.

The feud involved the father, Shawn Thomas, and the mother of the child, who lived next door to Jennings on Cambridge Avenue on the South Side, Trapp said.

A number of altercations involving Jennings and the couple took place leading up to June 5, 2020, Trapp said.

That day, when Thomas started to drive away from the woman’s home to pick up the child’s grandmother, Jennings came out to argue with him, Trapp said.

Thomas drove away, but Jennings got in his car and followed in his vehicle until they got to Gibson Street, where “independent witnesses” will testify that Jennings “sped up” and hit the back of Thomas’s car, Trapp said. The crash caused damage and possibly caused injury, he said.

Thomas drove to the next intersection, which was at South Avenue, where Jennings again hit the back of Thomas’ vehicle, again “causing damage and potential injury,” Trapp said. Jennings then yelled a threat to Thomas and left the area, Trapp said.

“It’s impossible the defendant did not know there was a baby in the back seat of that car,” Trapp said. “This is a 3-month-old child caught in the crossfire,” he added.

Jennings’ attorney, Jeff Kurz, told jurors the evidence will “show a very different story,” that earlier the day of the incident, Thomas pushed and punched Jennings, and “my client is then beaten over the head with a wooden stick and was bleeding.”

Kurz said that episode ended, but their fighting resumed later, and Jennings decided to leave the neighborhood and left first, but Thomas got in his car and passed Jennings so that he was in front of Jennings.

Then Thomas “hit the brakes hard” to cause Jennings to hit the back of Thomas’ car, Kurz said. The evidence will show that if there was a baby in the car, Jennings did not know the baby was there.

The trial resumes today.