Guilty plea entered in vehicular homicide

Waylynn T. Ward to be sentenced June 28 for misdemeanor charge

YOUNGSTOWN -- Waylynn T. Ward, 26, of Yolanda Drive, Austintown, will be sentenced at 9 a.m. June 28 after pleading guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.

She pleaded in the Sept. 7 crash on Tippecanoe Road in Canfield Township that killed Daniel Harvischak, 65, of Youngstown.

Mahoning County prosecutors will be recommending that Ward get some form of incarceration. She entered her guilty plea before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Ward was indicted on aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, but the charge was amended down to a misdemeanor in exchange for her plea.

Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said the 6:35 a.m. three-vehicle crash happened on Tippecanoe Road between Canfield Road and Shields Road when Ward and Harvischak were traveling south. Ward was in the through-lane driving a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee with her 2-year-old son. Harvischak was in a 2022 Mazda 3 in the right turn lane while stopped at Canfield Road (U.S. Route 62).

As they both traveled south through the intersection, they were doing so at a "high rate of speed," according to a news release. The right lane merged into one lane southbound as both cars were still driving next to each other, attempting to pass each other, the patrol stated.

Ward traveled left of center, then "attempted to move to the right and struck (Harvischak's vehicle)." Then Harvischak's vehicle and Ward's vehicle "went left of center striking" an oncoming vehicle, the report states. The crash happened at the crest of a hill, the patrol stated.

The third car involved in the accident was traveling north on Tippecanoe Road approaching the Ward and Harvischak vehicles, the patrol reported. Stephen Corll, 40, of Youngstown, was in that vehicle, a 2016 Lincoln MKX.

"All three (vehicles) then went off the east side of the road, with (the Ward and Harvischak vehicles) catching on fire," the report states. The vehicles left the road about 800 feet south of Route 62.

Ward suffered what were described as minor injuries. Harvischak suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Corll had what were believed to be minor injuries, the patrol said. Ward's 2-year-old son suffered a possible injury.

There was a witness driving behind the southbound vehicles, the crash report states.

Ward and her son, along with Corll, were transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital in stable condition.