WAPAKONETA — A Wapakoneta man has been charged for his role in a traffic accident earlier this year that left one person dead.
David Lavallee, 70, entered pleas of not guilty during his arraignment hearing Wednesday in Auglaize County Municipal Court to misdemeanor counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular manslaughter.
His case had been transferred from the county’s court of common pleas.
According to court records, the charges stem from an incident on Feb. 26 when Lavallee, while operating a motor vehicle, negligently caused the death of another “as the proximate result of committing a violation contained in the Ohio Revised Code that is a minor misdemeanor … or of a municipal ordinance that, regardless of the penalty set by ordinance for the violation, is substantially equivalent to any provision of any section contained in the Revised Code that is a minor misdemeanor.”
According to a crash report by the Wapakoneta Police Department, Lavallee was involved in a multi-vehicle crash that took place on Bellefontaine Street in Wapakoneta at the Interstate 75 overpass.
The report stated Lavallee was traveling westbound on Bellefontaine Street on the afternoon of Feb. 26 when his 2008 Cadillac sideswiped a vehicle driven by Ashley Silone, of Cridersville. Lavallee reportedly then failed to stop for a traffic signal at the intersection of Bellefontaine Street and Apollo Drive, striking the rear of a vehicle driven by Joseph Ingram, of Lima.
Ingram’s vehicle was pushed into the rear of a vehicle driven by Robert Felts, of Botkins, which in turn struck a car operated by Georgina Carroll, of Trenton, Ohio.
Ingram suffered fatal injuries in the crash. Occupants from two other vehicles were transported to local hospitals. Lavallee was not injured.
A pretrial hearing for Lavallee has been scheduled for Nov. 22. He remains free on an own-recognizance bond.
