Recordpub.com - Driver charged in deadly car crash

Driver charged in deadly car crash

David O'Brien

August 18, 2008

By Dave O'Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

Three times, Nelly J. Warren was accused of driving drunk in Portage County. Her third time, it proved fatal to a Randolph woman. Patricia Quick of Windham Township remembers the night.

"It was 10:10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21," Quick said. "A storm started at 9:30, I know that for a fact. I had a large dinner party here, and at 9:30 the party broke up and everyone went home."

Quick and her mother, Ada VanHorn of Randolph, got into Quick's 2002 Kia Optima and headed toward Randolph. Warren, a resident of Southington in Trumbull County, was driving a 2000 Dodge Neon headed east on S.R. 82 around 10 p.m. after drinking at an establishment in Garrettsville, according to the Ravenna Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Warren lost control of her vehicle and collided head-on with Quick and VanHorn's vehicle. While Quick survived the wreck with a broken left leg, VanHorn suffered a severe compound fracture of her right leg and ankle. She was transported to Akron City Hospital, where after two surgeries, she died on Feb. 29.

Three weeks earlier, on Feb. 4, she had celebrated her 80th birthday.

The crash was the second fatal wreck in Portage County in 2008. Alcohol was suspected as a factor in the crash, patrol Lt. Michael Marucci said at the time, and officers drew blood from Warren. She later was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence.

Quick was released from the hospital on Feb. 25 after one operation. She recently went through another.

"My left leg was broken three times," Quick said. "They put a titanium steel rod down the large bone, but they could not repair the smaller bone. The second operation was to remove the screws because they were interfering with the growth of the small bone. I was forced to use a walker for more than three months and wasn't allowed to put any weight on the leg at all."

She eventually went back to work -- "I have a great job with a wonderful boss," she said -- a month and a day after the accident.

Warren, 31, was indicted Aug. 5 by a Portage County grand jury on four felonies, including aggravated vehicular homicide, and three misdemeanors, including operating a vehicle under the influence. Portage County Common Pleas Court Judge Laurie Pittman set bond for Warren at $100,000 cash. Her attorney, Tom Sicuro, is seeking a reduction in that bond, according to court records.

"Defendant is a life long resident of the Portage-Trumbull area, a graduate of Windham High School and has no criminal record other than traffic," Sicuro wrote in a motion filed Wednesday in Portage County Common Pleas Court in Ravenna, seeking to have Warren's bond reduced to 10 percent of $75,000 so she may be released from jail.

Quick opposes Warren's release pending trial, "not because of revenge but because we were scared of her," she said.

Quick said, and court records confirm, that Warren had prior drunk driving arrests and has lived in Kent, Ravenna, Windham, Newton Falls, several different addresses in Leavittsburg near the city of Warren and now Southington. Quick said she is afraid if Warren gets out on bond she might not show up to court.

Twice before, police have arrested Warren on drunk driving charges. On Sept. 18, 2006, a trooper from the Ravenna OHP post charged her with operating a vehicle under the influence. Warren pleaded guilty in that case, was fined $250 plus court costs and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with all but three days suspended on the condition she complete a three-day OVI school.

Kent police also charged Warren with misdemeanor OVI following a Dec. 18, 2001 arrest. It was amended to a lesser charge in Portage County Municipal Court in Kent, the nature of which was not clear. Warren pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in that case and was fined $250, according to court records.

Warren's pre-trial in the most recent case has been set for Sept. 25 and a jury trial date was set for Sept. 30. Quick said her goal for Warren "is to serve a good, long time in prison," but has higher, surprising hopes for the woman accused of killing her mother.

"I'm hoping for eight years," she said. "That gives her four years for a college education, so she can come out of that prison as a good society person, a blessing to society instead of a pimple. I do wish her a good long time in prison because that's the only chance she has for herself. I don't wish her bad, I really don't, and my family doesn't. But she needs to be punished, she needs to be responsible for what she's done."