Case in fatal Niles hit-skip bound over to Trumbull County Grand Jury
NILES The case for the suspect in a fatal hit-skip that killed a retired Newton Falls teacher has been bound over to the Trumbull County Grand Jury.
According to records from the Niles Municipal Court website, 63-year-old Wayne Keeley of Warren attended a preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning.
Keeley is being held in the Trumbull County Jail on a $1 million bond, where he faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident in alleged connection to the death of 67-year-old Brenda Hibbard.
Charges stem from an incident on Saturday near Fifth Street and Indiana Avenue, where police responded to the area around 8:45 p.m. after receiving a 911 call reporting an unresponsive female in a yard.
According to the police report, an unknown vehicle drove through the backyard of a home on the 700 block of Indiana Avenue, striking parked vehicles and hitting Hibbard.
Officers later found Hibbard, who was knocked backwards out of her shoes by the impact. Authorities say that she was taken to the hospital but later died of her injuries.
Investigators on scene located two vehicle parts with corresponding part numbers at the scene, leading police to believe the suspect vehicle was a later model Ford F-150.
Keeley was taken into custody on Monday afternoon after police received a call about a pickup truck that matched the alleged suspect's vehicle description.
Police spoke to Keeley, who allegedly admitted to officers that he fell asleep at the wheel on his way home from work and panicked after the crash.
During Keeley's video arraignment in Niles Municipal Court on Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty.
Keeley's case was bound over to the Trumbull County Grand Jury, according to court records from the preliminary hearing on Wednesday in Niles Municipal Court.
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