The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

February 12, 2009

2 years for fatal hit/run driver

’07 wreck victim left 3 kids, widow

By Patrick W. Connelly

MERCER, TRUMBULL COUNTIES — A Stoneboro man was sentenced to 2 years in prison Thursday for a 2007 hit-and-run crash in Brookfield that killed a Youngstown motorcyclist.

Dwayne Merle Redinger, 22, of 9 Lander St. Ext., hit and killed Michael D. Brown, 38, with his pickup Aug. 16, 2007, at state Route 82 and Collar Price Road.

After the crash, Redinger fled, leaving police without a suspect and Brown’s three children with no father.

“He left him there, not caring if he had kids or anything like that,” Brown’s wife, Dawn, told Judge John Stuard before Redinger was sentenced in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Redinger, formerly of 114 Rowitsch Road, Sandy Lake Township, pleaded guilty Dec. 15 to charges of vehicular manslaughter, tampering with evidence and failing to stop after an accident.

He apologized to Mrs. Brown and her three teenage children — Ondr’e, Brandon Michael and Anthony — but Mrs. Brown said his words could never repair the loss and pain they’ve endured.

Redinger eluded police for almost eight months as they tried to find the driver that fled the fatal wreck.

He moved to Tennessee for several months before returning to the Stoneboro area, police said. Anonymous tips led to his arrest last May, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

A Confederate flag decal seen by witnesses on the truck’s rear window helped to locate him, the patrol said. He had likely left one of the summer truck night events in Brookfield just minutes before the crash, they said.

Redinger had been free on bond since June.

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