Mapleheightspress.com - Man , woman plead not guilty in fatal car/bicycle accident

by Tim Troglen

Reporter

Maple Heights -- A 19-year-old Edgewood Court man is free on a $10,000 bond after pleading not guilty March 17 to charges related to an October car accident in which a former Maple Heights man was struck and killed while riding his bicycle.

Anthony Hominsky Jr. was arrested March 14 and charged with obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence, both third-degree felonies. Hominsky declined comment for this story.

Also charged in the case was Samantha Rauch, 19, of Richfield. Rauch pleaded not guilty after being arrested March 17 and charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Her attorney, John P. Hildebrand Jr., declined comment March 28. Rauch is out on a $500 bond.

Police say the victim, Michael Gedeon, 54, of Garfield Heights, was riding his bicycle in the curb lane on Granger Road in Garfield Heights Oct. 26 at 10:30 p.m. when he was struck by a motor vehicle. He was found on the sidewalk by a passerby and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries.

There were no witnesses and the investigation stalled, police said. But, thanks in part to anonymous tips solicited by a memorial set up along the road where Gedeon died, the investigation took off again.

According to Garfield Heights Police Capt. Tom Kaiser, those tips led police to investigate Hominsky and Rauch. Police would later allege that Rauch was driving the 1991 Toyota Camry that hit Gedeon, and that Hominsky, who was in the car, switched places with Rauch after the crash and drove an apartment in Broadview Heights.

Police allege that Rauch and Hominsky tried to hide evidence of the crime by smashing out the driver's and passenger's windows of the vehicle and removing the CD player, making it look like the car had been vandalized. Hominsky filed a vandalism report stating he junked the car that day, police said.

E-mail: TTroglen@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3165