AMHERST, Ohio — A Lorain County man is now facing an animal cruelty charge for a suspected drunk driving crash that seriously injured a woman and killed her dog.
This week, a grand jury indicted Sean Bankston on 10 charges. Seven felonies included felonious assault, aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular assault, 2 counts of failure to stop after an accident, tampering with evidence and cruelty to companion animals. He was also indicted on misdemeanor traffic violations, including operation on wanton or willful disregard for safety and violation of lanes of travel on roadways.
The 34-year-old has been held in the Lorain County jail since Dec. 20 on suspicion of OVI. Amherst Police said Bankston hit Jess Paige and her dog, Ishe, while they were walking on North Quarry Road near Rome Beauty Drive. Ishe died at the scene, and Jess is still hospitalized with her injuries.
“It’s been a rough eight weeks,” said her brother Bill Podomnik. “Her future as a 65-year-old woman is shattered. I mean, everything she wanted to do for the rest of her life is thrown out the window.”
In January, News 5 first talked to Podomnik and his wife, reporting a push by animal advocacy groups to charge Bankston with an additional felony charge.
RELATED: Advocates want animal cruelty charge for driver in crash that injured Amherst woman, killed dog
With the indictment returned Thursday, Podomnik said the family is a step closer to accountability.
“It took someone else to get injured and an animal to be killed to push it to the point where he might get serious jail time or prison time,” he said.
The Lorain County Pit Crew and Friends of the Lorain County Dog Kennel penned a letter in January, asking the county prosecutor to consider Ohio Revised Code 959.131. The 2015 law makes it a fifth-degree felony to “knowingly cause physical harm to a companion animal.” The groups argue that Bankston knowingly put people and animals in danger when he allegedly drove drunk.
“I’m just hoping that the charge goes through to the end and it’s considered,” said Tory Mittler, the president of the Friends of the Lorain County Dog Kennel.
Both groups were pleased to see the charge included in the indictment and hope it sets a precedent for other cases.
“It’s a really, really, really big deal and I was really happy to see that,” said Pit Crew founder and president Candi Rogers. “There’s a valid reason for it, obviously. But going forward then in the future, that would probably help others to use it more freely.”
Bankston has faced previous OVI charges in Elyria, Lorain and Oberlin Municipal Courts, in addition to other traffic-related offenses in recent years.
Podomnik said he hopes the additional felonies in this case will be a wake-up call.
“If it takes something like that to get someone who’s hurting people, then it’s serving its purpose and doing something that’s going to help this whole neighborhood and anyone else he may have crossed paths with in the future,” he said. “He chose to get behind the wheel and drive in his condition and caused the problem, and of course, we suffer from it. The whole community does.”
Bankston is scheduled to be arraigned on charges at 8:45 a.m. on Feb. 19 in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.
