YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A man accused of causing a crash that killed a woman as he was being chased by police entered guilty pleas Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Jaquan Jenkins, 23, pleaded guilty before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum to charges of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony.
Sentencing will be Nov. 29. The attorneys in the case are recommending a sentence of 10 to 13 and a half years.
Jenkins is accused of causing a Dec. 1 crash at Mahoning and North Bon Air avenues that killed a passenger in the car he was driving, Kaitlyn Cefalde, 22.
Jenkins was being chased by police in Austintown, but they broke the chase off just before they reached Youngstown.
The car Jenkins was driving continued traveling at a high rate of speed and was going so fast that it was sheared in half when it hit a utility pole.
Cefalde survived the crash but died the next day at St. Elizabeth Health Center from her injuries.
Jenkins was also being treated at St. Elizabeth, but he left the hospital and was not found until August when he was arrested by U.S. Marshals.
A grand jury indicted Jenkins March 30.
The car was being chased after Austintown police received a 911 call from someone who said they saw a couple in the car fighting. When police spotted the car and tried to pull it over, it kept going.
