YOUNGSTOWN — Damon Cobbs, 27, of Miami Avenue, was sentenced to nine to 12 years in prison Friday for a May 27, 2021, crash while he was fleeing police that severely injured a woman in another vehicle and ended her pregnancy.

Cobbs pleaded guilty in January to vehicular assault, aggravated vehicular homicide and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Maureen Sweeney handed down the sentence.

The crash and fleeing took place on Albert Street near the Himrod Avenue Expressway on the East Side when Cobbs crashed into Katrina Betts, now 20, of Youngstown, about 4:15 p.m. He was being pursued by Youngstown police.

A Youngstown police report states that an officer saw Cobbs traveling south on Albert at high speed, and he passed the officer going the opposite direction.

“The vehicle then continued accelerating without braking into the intersection on Albert at the Himrod Avenue Expressway. There the auto ran the red light and caused a massive crash between it and a blue Pontiac Vibe,” the report states.

Cobbs then got out of his Chrysler 300 and fled on foot and was captured a short time later.

‘TAUNTING’

During the pursuit, Cobbs passed another Youngstown police officer, who looked at Cobbs’ face as he drove past. Cobbs “looked at me in the eyes and smiled. At this time, the vehicle accelerated at an even higher rate of speed, as if the driver was taunting me,” officer Joe Wess stated in a report.

Another officer stated that officer Luis Villaplana was in an unmarked cruiser on Albert Street near McGuffey Road when the Chrysler 300 passed him and other cars at the intersection.

Cobbs went through the red light light, causing the officer to activate his inboard lights and siren on McGuffey at Donation Avenue and ending at the Himrod Avenue Expressway.

Officers later found two small bags of marijuana in the center console of Cobbs’ vehicle. Cobbs was traveling “at a very high rate of speed” on Albert and passing other vehicles, police stated.

Betts was ejected from her vehicle and was seriously injured, the report states. Her condition at the hospital was “critical.”

Betts told The Vindicator on Friday she suffered three fractures in her spine, was in a coma for several days at the hospital, suffered a brain injury, a shattered hip and had to have a rod implanted in her knee. Her damaged spleen had to be removed.

‘HARDEST YEAR’

In her statement to Sweeney before sentencing, Betts said the past 10 months since the crash has been “the hardest year of my life.

“I was excited to have my second child. I was really confused when the nurses said I was in an accident. I truly didn’t know what was going on. My memory was like a black hole.”

She added, “I remember the day I sat up for the first time, walking for the first time and just crying.” She said “there’s no way that I actually flew through a windshield.”

Rob Andrews, Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, told Sweeney that Betts suffered severe injuries in the crash, some of which “she will never recover from.”

The defense sentencing memorandum asked for Cobbs to get less than the prosecution-recommended eight to 12 years in prison, noting that Cobbs has never been to prison before, has a 3-year-old daughter and will miss out on “countless major life events” of hers.

He and his girlfriend are expecting another child in June, the filing states.

Andrews told Sweeney in a sentencing memorandum, however, that “Katrina Betts will also miss out on the birth of her child and the child’s countless major life events because the defendant took all that away from her before the child was even born. At least the defendant will be able to spend time with his children when he gets out of prison.”

Andrews added that Cobbs has a “series of misdemeanor convictions” and a felony marijuana trafficking conviction.

He was convicted four times in Youngstown Municipal Court between 2017 and 2020 of driving under suspension and once in Ashland, Ohio. And there is a warrant for his arrest for the same charge in Sandusky County, the filing states.

Cobbs admitted the reason he took off from a traffic stop in the May 27 crash was his fear of arrest for driving under suspension, Andrews stated. Cobbs did not have a valid license at the time of he accident.

“His driving is the exact cause that brought us to this point,” Andrews said.

“The defendant only cares about himself and has no regard for his fellow citizens or the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio,” Andrews added.