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YOUNGSTOWN -- Ryan Rach, 36, who was indicted last week on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide in the Oct. 16 crash that killed Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Nicholas Cayton, was arraigned on the charges Monday morning in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Rach, of Canfield, who now has an address in Salem, appeared before Judge Maureen Sweeney with his attorney, Ed Hartwig, and pleaded not guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide with a specification of a peace officer victim and aggravated vehicular assault as a result of the injuries suffered by Nelson De Jesus Herrera Vasquez, 65, of Florida.
Sweeney set bond at $100,000. The Ohio Attorney General's Office is prosecuting the case with Ohio Assistant Attorneys General William Walton II and Seth Enlow at the hearing. Sweeney ordered that Rach have no driving privileges and no contact with the victim's family if he makes bail.
The case is assigned to Judge Anthony Donofrio, who immediately held a first pretrial after the arraignment. The next pretrial will be at 11 a.m. Sept. 30.
Rach remained in the Mahoning County jail Monday afternoon, according to jail records.
Vasquez is the truck driver Cayton was assisting with Vasquez's disabled semitrailer in the right, northbound lane of state Route 11 near Leffingwell Road in Canfield when Rach struck the rear of Cayton's cruiser, killing him.
The crash resulted in Rach's truck continuing forward into the back of Vasquez's vehicle, also striking Vasquez, who was standing outside of his truck. Vasquez suffered serious injuries, according to a lawsuit Vasquez filed against Rach in common pleas court.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson came to the Canfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol Friday to announce the details of the indictment and to say that Rach was arrested that morning at his home in Canfield.
At the time of the crash, Rach was driving a flatbed truck owned by Quaker City Concrete Products of Leetonia, according to the crash report, which also stated that Rach and the vehicle he was driving was the "unit in error" in the crash.
The Ohio Attorney General's office stated Friday that an Ohio State Highway Patrol investigation determined Rach was allegedly distracted and using his cellphone before the crash.
Cayton responded to the scene of a disabled tractor-trailer on the highway that day. After making contact with Vasquez, Cayton was sitting in his cruiser with the emergency overhead lights activated when a 2007 Mack Granite, driven by Rach, hit the cruiser.
If Rach is convicted of his charges, he could get about 10 years in prison. Multiple lawsuits have been filed regarding the crash.
Wilson said Friday that Rach's indictments accuse Rach of driving recklessly in causing Cayton's death and injuring Vasquez.
At Cayton's funeral at Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University, Cayton was honored by Gov. Mike DeWine and other state officials, as well as people who knew Cayton on a more personal level.
He was honored for his love of his family and for his service -- as a state trooper and as an Ohio National Guardman deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. About 1,000 people attended his service, many of them fellow police officers.