Lorain man pleads in killing of Cleveland officer

A Lorain man avoided trial Oct. 3 after admitting he struck a Cleveland police officer with his car and killed him in January 2017.

Prosecutors agreed to drop an aggravated vehicular homicide charge against Israel Alvarez, 46, in return for guilty pleas on another count of aggravated vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, stopping after an accident and drug possession for the Interstate 90 crash that killed Officer David Fahey.

Before the pleas were accepted, Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Radigan told Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Shannon M. Gallagher that Fahey’s family approved of the agreement which states Alvarez will serve between eight and 12 years in prison.

Alvarez is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 16.

Fahey was killed Jan. 24, 2017, when he was struck by Alvarez’ white Toyota Camry while setting up flares at a fatal crash involving a firetruck and van on I-90 at McKinley Avenue in Rocky River, according to Rocky River police.

Witnesses at the time said Alvarez did not stop.

Steve Loomis, then-president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said at the time of the crash, Fahey had been with the department for two years and his partner, Jennifer Scarborrough, watched on as he was struck.

Scarborrough got a description of Alvarez’s vehicle, as well as a partial license plate number, while also attempting to save Fahey with CPR, Loomis said.

An all-points bulletin was released to all of the suburbs west of Cleveland with a description of the Camry, and a Homeland Security officer driving through Lorain noticed the car in the driveway at an East 31st Street home.

Members of the Lorain Police Department, Ohio Highway Patrol troopers and the U.S. Marshals Service surrounded the house and took Alvarez into custody just before noon Jan. 24, 2017.