YOUNGSTOWN - YOUNGSTOWN - A plea deal has been offered to the suspect in a deadly hit-skip crash in Youngstown.

An employee at Judge Anthony Donofrio's court tells 21 News a plea deal was offered to 42-year-old Laird Bruner during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday morning.

Bruner has until his next pretrial hearing, which is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, to accept this offer. If he does not accept it, a final pretrial hearing will be set before the case goes to trial.

Bruner is accused of a hit-skip crash that claimed the life of 53-year-old Joseph Novacich near the intersection of Loveland Road and Pointview Avenue in September of 2025.

Security camera footage showed Novacich walking in the road and trying to jump out of the way of an SUV speeding towards him. He was struck and thrown several feet before the SUV stopped two houses down, backed out of the yard and took off down the street.