A Tallmadge man who is accused of killing a 17-year-old Akron girl in a drunken crash on Easter morning has been charged with aggravated vehicular assault.
Police report that Charles Queer Jr., 63, was driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.204 percent — more than double Ohio’s legal limit of 0.08 percent — when his car struck the rear of a parked vehicle.
Patricia “Tricia” Powell, 17, of Briner Street, was severely injured in the crash and transported to Summa Akron City Hospital, where she later died.
Queer also was charged with failure to control and two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The vehicular assault charge is a second-degree felony punishable by up to eight years in prison; the other charges are misdemeanors.
About 2:15 a.m. March 27, Tricia was traveling eastbound on Interstate 76 near the South Arlington Street exit by the Hoban High School footbridge, according to police. She pulled over her 2002 Oldsmobile Alero because her vehicle was malfunctioning, and she turned on her emergency flashers.
Queer, driving a 2015 Chevy Equinox, rear-ended the Alero, fatally injuring Tricia, police said.
Family described the teen as friendly, talkative and bubbly. She was planning to attend Kent State University, where she would have majored in business and minored in art.
Tricia was a student at Ellet High School. She is survived by her parents, Kelly Grady and Garrison Powell, and four siblings age 10, 9, 7 and 5.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.
