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YOUNGSTOWN -- Waylynn T. Ward, 26, of Yolanda Drive in Austintown was sentenced to six months in the Mahoning County jail, $1,000 fine and three-year driver's license suspension Wednesday after pleading guilty last month to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.
She and Daniel Harvischak, 65, of Youngstown, engaged in a high-speed vehicular conflict in a Sept. 7 crash on Tippecanoe Road in Canfield Township that killed Harvischak.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court handed down the sentence, agreeing with prosecutors that Ward deserved jail time for her part in the conflict. Ward was taken from the courtroom at the end of the hearing to begin serving her sentence.
Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said the 6:35 a.m. 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 on board. Harvischak was in a 2022 Mazda 3 in the right turn lane while stopped at the Canfield Road intersection.
As they both traveled south through the intersection, they were doing so at a "high rate of speed," according to a highway patrol 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)," the patrol stated. Then Harvischak's vehicle and Ward's vehicle "went left of center, striking" an oncoming vehicle. The crash happened at the crest of a hill.
The third car involved in the accident was traveling north on Tippecanoe Road approaching the Ward and Harvischak vehicles. 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's attorney, Frank Cassese, wrote a sentencing memorandum that advised Judge Krichbaum the conflict between Ward and Harvischak began earlier than the Canfield Road intersection.
The two were beside each other at the traffic light at Kirk and Meridian roads, and Harvischak "was upset with Ms. Ward" and "insistently encouraged Ms. Ward to roll down her window, (and) when she refused to comply, he raised his middle finger to her and angrily screamed at her from his vehicle," Cassese stated.
Then they were beside each other at Canfield and Tippecanoe roads in Cornersburg.
Video surveillance from the Cornersburg Party Shop just south of the intersection showed both vehicles traveling south at a high rate of speed, with a Highway Patrol reconstruction estimating their speed at "60 to 70 mph seconds before the the collision," Cassese stated.
The Ward and Harvischak vehicles hit the Corll vehicle head-on, Cassese stated. Harvischak was not wearing a seat belt, Cassese stated.
Mike Rich, assistant county prosecutor, said there is no way to know whether there was an earlier confrontation at Kirk and Meridian Roads. Only Ward reported that, Rich said.
Rich said the video showed the two vehicles "side by side," with Ward in the turning lane for cars traveling in the opposite direction, and Harvischak was in the "through lane."
"It's clear that they were going at a high rate of speed next to each other," Rich said.
Rich said the accident reconstruction report states that Ward was "attempting to get back into the right through lane on Tippecanoe" at the time of the crash. Ward's negligence caused a death, Rich said. Because the video shows the two cars side by side and speeding, there was "some culpability" on Harvischak's part, Rich said. Culpability is defined as "responsibility for wrongdoing."
Ward suffered what were described as minor injuries. Harvischak 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. Ward and her son, along with Corll, were transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital in stable condition.
There was a witness driving behind the southbound vehicles, the crash report states.
erunyan@vindy.com