An 18-year-old from Jackson County, Ohio, has been committed to a juvenile correctional facility until he turns 21 for a drunk-driving crash last year that killed an off-duty Wellston police officer and seriously injured another officer, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson announced on Saturday, November 7.
Source: Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, announcement via EIN Presswire, Nov. 7, 2026
A Jackson County Juvenile Court judge issued the order on Thursday, November 5. The order also permanently suspends the young man's driver's license, Wilson's office said. The commitment is the final court outcome in a case that began with a guilty plea in October and a crash investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Source: Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, announcement via EIN Presswire, Nov. 7, 2026
The guilty plea in October
The defendant pleaded guilty on October 5 to a second-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide and a third-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular assault in Jackson County Juvenile Court, the Attorney General's office said. He has since moved to Athens County. A disposition hearing — the juvenile-court equivalent of a sentencing hearing — was scheduled for 3 p.m. on November 5, and the judge issued the commitment order that Thursday.
The night of the crash: a golf cart, a tree, and a car left in the road
At about 2 a.m. on August 30, 2025, a 2014 Hyundai Accent driven by the defendant — then 17 years old and intoxicated, according to the Attorney General's office — rear-ended a golf cart travelling southbound on South Pennsylvania Avenue near Sixth Street in Wellston. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which investigated the crash, the impact forced the golf cart off the left side of the road and into a tree. The Hyundai came to rest in the roadway.
The passenger in the golf cart, Wellston resident Matthew Juniper, 25, suffered fatal 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 — a heavy loss for a small-city department and for the county where he had also worn a deputy's badge.
The driver of the golf cart, Wellston resident Brant Derrow, 40, also a Wellston police officer, was seriously injured in the crash. Both men were off duty at the time, travelling in the golf cart in the early hours of the morning.
What the attorney general said
"This tragedy, like so many others, could have been prevented had the teen made the right choice to drive sober," Wilson said in announcing the commitment. "My heartfelt condolences go out to Officer Matthew Juniper's family and his colleagues at the Wellston Police Department." When the guilty plea was announced in October, Wilson put it more bluntly: "A teenager's reckless decision to drive drunk cost a police officer his life and left another officer injured," calling the case "a reminder of the devastating consequences that can result from drunken driving."
Source: Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, announcement via EIN Presswire, Nov. 7, 2026
The case was handled in juvenile court because the driver was 17 at the time of the crash. The Attorney General's announcements do not name him, and Awaaz Punjab does not name him either. He is now 18 and has since moved from Jackson County to Athens County.
How the case was prosecuted
The case was prosecuted by the Special Prosecutions Section of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, rather than by a local prosecutor alone — the state-level unit the Attorney General uses for cases assigned to his office. The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated the crash itself. Between them, the two state agencies carried the case from the August 2025 collision scene on South Pennsylvania Avenue to Thursday's disposition order in Jackson County Juvenile Court.
What happens next
Under Thursday's order, the young man will remain committed to a juvenile correctional facility until he turns 21, and his driver's license is permanently suspended. No further court date was announced in the Attorney General's statement. For Wellston — a small city in Jackson County in southern Ohio — the case now closes in court, while the department continues without Officer Juniper, who served it for four years, and alongside Officer Derrow, who survived with serious injuries. The Attorney General's message, repeated at both the plea and the disposition, is the one his office directed at every young driver in Ohio: the crash, and everything that followed from it, was preventable if the driver had not driven drunk.
Source: Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, announcement via EIN Presswire, Nov. 7, 2026