A Johnstown woman is facing vehicular homicide and involuntary manslaughter charges arising from a crash that occurred over 20 years ago, police say.
According to the complaint, Autumn Marie Hartman (Kohut), 40, was involved in a vehicle crash in May 2002, on the 300 block of Ohio Street in Lorain Borough where the vehicle she was driving crossed over the double yellow lines resulting in a head-on collision with a CAMTRAN bus.
Police say that Hartman’s 14-month-old son Jacob Williams was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash and received severe injuries that required him to be flown to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment.
The accident resulted in Williams spending several months in the hospital before he was released as a quadriplegic on a ventilator and he remained on a ventilator and was quadriplegic until his death in October 2021
Police say blood drawn from Hartman following the accident revealed Opiates in her system at the time of the crash.
According to the complaint, Hartman admitted she was a regular IV drug user and had injected a dose of heroin approximately 4.5 hours before she fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the center line causing the crash.
Hartman subsequently served time for charges including reckless endangering and endangering the welfare of a child, police say, and Williams was placed in the custody of his maternal grandparents.
On October 29, 2021, Williams was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased in the emergency room due to cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from quadriplegia and chronic trach dependence, the complaint says.
Police say they reviewed the records regarding Williams’s death in July 2022 and spoke with the emergency room physician before charging Hartman for the death of Williams “as a direct result of the motor vehicle crash on 05/14/2002.”
According to the criminal docket, bail has been set at $50,000 and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for August 10.
