JACKSON COUNTY — An 18-year-old has been committed to a juvenile correctional facility until age 21 for a crash that killed an off-duty Ohio police officer and injured another.
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A Jackson County Juvenile Court judge also permanently suspended their driver’s license.
The sentence follows the defendant’s Oct. 5 guilty plea to aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the crash occurred at about 2 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2025.
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The defendant, then 17 years old and intoxicated, drove a 2014 Hyundai Accent that rear-ended a southbound golf cart on South Pennsylvania Avenue near Sixth Street in Wellston.
The impact forced the golf cart off the left side of the road and into a tree.
The passenger in the golf cart, 25-year-old Matthew Juniper of Wellston, died from his injuries.
Juniper was a four-year veteran of the Wellston Police Department and had previously served as a deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver of the golf cart, 40-year-old Brant Derrow of Wellston, was seriously injured in the crash. Derrow was also a Wellston police officer.
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