Brookfield Township officials are investigating what it will take to re-erect an historical sign on the township green that was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver.

Arlene L. Root, 66, of 1988 Warner Road, Brookfield, was southbound on Route 7 on June 15 when her SUV hopped the curb at the green, police said. The SUV drove on the sidewalk, hit the sign, backed onto Warren Sharon Road and headed west, police said.

A motorist who had seen Root driving erratically called police and followed Root home, police said. When police arrived, Root was struggling to walk from her SUV and was bleeding from an arm. Police helped Root into her home and called for Brookfield Fire-EMS, who transported her to a hospital, police said.

Root was “unable to recall anything useful to me other than she had been in a crash somewhere,” said patrolman James Kalaman in his report. “She was not able to recall the location of the crash, only that she had struck a sign.”

Police were initially unable to find the location of the crash, but later received a report that the historical marker had been knocked down and compared the damage to the sign and Root’s SUV to determine she had been the driver, police said.

Root has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failure to control. She is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Aug. 1 in Trumbull County Eastern District Court.

The sign, which explained Brookfield’s role in the Underground Railroad, was put up in 2015 under an Ohio History Connection program through the Brookfield Historical Society, said township Road Supt. Jaime Fredenburg.

The post and sign are one piece.

“I think you have to have a whole new sign,” Fredenburg told the trustees June 24 when asked if the sign could be salvaged.

Officials said they will look into whether the sign can be cut from the post and welded to a new post; whether the concrete base can still be used; and what any of the options will cost.

Root does not have auto insurance, according to the police report, and Fredenburg said he needs to come up with a sign-replacement cost estimate that can be provided to Trumbull County Eastern District Court in a restitution request.

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