Tonja Freeman. Contributed photo.
A Niles woman charged in a serious Christmas Day 2021 traffic crash has been sent to prison.
Tonja R. Freeman, 56, pleaded guilty Dec. 28 to charges of aggravated vehicular assault and failing to stop after an accident. Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay sentenced her that day to 9 months in prison.
Brookfield police said Freeman was westbound on Route 82 when she ran her car into the back of one that had just pulled away from a traffic signal that had turned green at Route 7. Driver Willy Mclallen, now 45, of Niles, told police the force of the crash pushed his vehicle 380 feet before he got it stopped, police said.
Freeman pulled to the side of the road, and then took off, police said.
Vienna police found Freeman’s disabled car about two miles from the crash scene, police said. Freeman and her passenger, Delphine E. Henderson, who lives at the same address as Freeman, were in the car when police found it.
Henderson, now 96, was taken to a hospital by Brookfield Fire-EMS. She suffered two broken hips, seven broken ribs, a broken nose and a large cut on her head that required 16 stitches, police said.
Freeman was charged with drunken driving, but that charge apparently was dropped as part of her plea deal.
