A Warren officer is facing charges in connection to a crash that left two people dead in September of this year.
The accused officer & driver of the police vehicle, James Burke, 28-years-old, was today charged with:
- Two counts: Homicide – Manslaughter with a motor vehicle; a fifteen-year felony
- One count: Moving violation causing serious impairment of body function; a 93-day
misdemeanor - One count: Public Officer – Willful neglect of duty; a one-year misdemeanor. Judge Chupa granted the defendant a $100,000 personal recognizance bond, according to a news release.
The deadly crash occurred in the early hours at the intersection of Schoenherr and Prospect in Warren. The victims, Cedric Hayden Jr., 34, and DeJuan Pettis, 33, were struck by a police car while driving their Dodge Durango.
According to a $100 million lawsuit filed in September, Fieger alleges that the police car was traveling at an “excessive and illegal speed” without its overhead lights or sirens activated. The obtained video footage supporting their allegations that the officer’s reckless driving directly caused the fatal collision.
The two men were lifelong best friends, and their deaths have left their families and community devastated.
