Ohio driver involved in fatal wrong-way crash on Route 43 to stand trial
The Ohio woman accused of driving the wrong way on the Mon-Fayette Expressway and crashing into another car head-on earlier this year will stand trial in connection with the collision that killed the other motorist.
Maciola B. Newman appeared Thursday before District Judge Eric Porter in Washington County Central Court at the courthouse and agreed to waive her case to court without testimony in connection with the wrong-way crash on the toll road that killed Jacob M. Huber.
Newman, 72, of Pickerington, is facing one felony charge of homicide by vehicle, along with misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment and several summary citations. She appeared in court with her attorney, Anthony Jackson, and had several supporters seated in the gallery behind her.
State police said Newman was driving north in the southbound lanes of the Route 43 toll road in Fallowfield Township shortly before 4:30 a.m. on July 14 when she crashed head-on into Huber’s car.
Huber, 24, of Ruffs Dale, died at the scene, while Newman and 38-year-old Charles E. Newman were trapped in their vehicle and had to be extricated by firefighters. Both were flown to Pittsburgh hospitals for treatment of what police described as serious injuries, and Maciola Newman could be seen in court wearing a walking cast on her left leg.
Police have not said how Newman entered the southbound lanes of the toll road, although the crash happened at mile-marker 37 just north of the highway’s interchange with Interstate 70. Newman was apparently on I-70 just before the crash, but it’s unclear how or where she entered the toll road heading in the wrong direction.
State police attempted to interview Newman and her passenger following the crash, although both were incoherent and unable to describe the events that led up to the collision, according to court documents.
Troopers with the state police’s Troop T barracks that patrol Pennsylvania Turnpike toll roads filed the charges against Newman on Oct. 13. She was arraigned later that day by Porter and released on $50,000 unsecured bond while awaiting her case to proceed through the courts.
Her formal arraignment on the charges is scheduled for Dec. 3 at 10 a.m. before Court of Common Pleas Judge Traci McDonald at the Washington County Courthouse.