Justin Houle
A Hubbard man has been charged with drunken driving by two police departments, stemming from a hit-skip crash May 14 in Kinsman that sent two people to hospitals.
After his arrest in Brookfield, Justin Houle, 35, of 24 Stoneybrooke, and a passenger, Stephanie Williams, 32, of Columbiana, engaged in “lascivious behavior” in the Brookfield holding cell, police said.
Houle was northbound on State Street in Kinsman when he drove through a stop and his car was T-boned by a car driven by Donald Gordon, 73, of 2135 Route 7, Fowler, and which was westbound on Route 87, Ohio Highway Patrol said.
Gordon and Helene A. Gordon, 65, of the same address, were taken to separate hospitals by Kinsman EMS for treatment of injuries that were suspected to be minor, police said.
Highway Patrol asked Brookfield police to look for Houle’s car. A witness had followed Houle and called in the license plate number, police said.
Brookfield police stopped the car as it entered Yankee Lake, and found Houle and Williams to be “highly intoxicated” and smelling strongly of alcohol.
During the stop, Williams drank from a can of ale. Police said they took the can from her, and Houle “got very irate,” calling police vulgar names and “getting very hostile,” police said.
Houle was removed from the car and placed in handcuffs, police said.
Williams yelled profanities and racial slurs, police said.
At the Brookfield police station, Houle and Williams were placed in separate cells, but were loud, obnoxious and confrontational, police said. Houle kicked the cell door several times and spat on equipment and furniture outside the cell, police said.
Williams undressed and refused to redress, saying her panties were wet with urine, police said. She hit the cell door with her panties, splashing urine throughout the room and on the face of a policeman, and peed on the floor, police said.
Brookfield police charged Houle with drunken driving, vandalism and driving under suspension. Highway Patrol charged him with drunken driving, hit-skip, driving without a license and running the stop sign.
On May 24, Trumbull County Eastern District Court Judge Marty S. Nosich found Houle guilty of Brookfield’s DUI charge and a charge of criminal mischief in place of the vandalism count. Houle was sentenced to 150 days in jail with credit for 7 already served, fined $425 and his license was suspended for 1 year.
The patrol charges of drunken driving and hit-skip were bound over to a grand jury, and all other charges were dismissed.
Brookfield police charged Williams with open container, disorderly conduct and vandalism. She next appears in court June 13.
