A volunteer firefighter from Portage, Ohio has been sentenced to 9 months in prison for causing an accident in 2010 that killed a 24 year old man and seriously injured his girlfriend.
Firefighter Timothy Johnson, now 43, of the Portage Fire District, was responding to a mutual aid structure fire on July 16, 2010 when his personally owned vehicle collided with a car driven by Olivia Duty. Duty’s boyfriend, Ian Huffman, 24, was killed in the crash. Police estimated Johnson’s speed at between 96-98 miles per hour just before the collision. Here is our previous coverage of the accident.
Johnson was originally charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault. Following a mistrial where a prosecutor committed misconduct by failing to disclose evidence to the defense, Johnson pled guilty to one count negligent vehicular homicide and attempted negligent homicide, a second-degree misdemeanor.
Besides the 9 months in prison, Johnson will lose his driver’s license for 3 years.