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Additional charges for Columbiana man following death of accident victim

LISBON — A Columbiana man already facing charges for crashing a stolen truck into another vehicle is now facing additional charges for the death of one of the crash victims.

The Columbiana County Grand Jury issued a superseding indictment Wednesday against Gerald Jackson, 40, McCloskey Road, which includes new charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated vehicular homicide, both first-degree felonies; aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault, a second-degree felony; and misdemeanors of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of both, two counts operating a vehicle while under the influence of a listed controlled substance or listed metabolite of a controlled substance and driving under suspension.

Jackson allegedly stole a truck belonging to Donald Pitts on Aug. 6 on U.S. Route 30, Hanoverton, fled from a sheriff’s deputy attempting a traffic stop after seeing the truck and crashed the truck in a head-on collision in Hanover Township, injuring two people in the other vehicle.

One of those people, Jennifer Hunley, 47, of Hanoverton, recently died. After the crash, Jackson fled on foot and was found hiding in a nearby field and taken into custody.

The superseding indictment alleges that Jackson caused Hunley’s death while driving recklessly and committing offenses of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and theft of a motor vehicle. He was also accused of causing her death while driving impaired and causing injury to the other victim while impaired.

The new charges for OVI allege he had methamphetamine and marijuana in his system also at the time of the crash.

The rest of the charges against Jackson include fourth-degree felonies of grand theft of a motor vehicle and two counts receiving stolen property, third-degree felonies of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and vehicular assault, fifth-degree felony vandalism and misdemeanor attempted breaking and entering.

Some of the charges allege that he caused physical harm to property owned by Simon Automotive, had a stolen 2017 GMC Sierra 1500 belonging to Gotch and Company, had a stolen 2007 Lincoln Town Car belonging to Old School Classic LLC, all on Aug. 6.

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