Woman charged after teen jumps into traffic

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland woman faces a felony charge of endangering a child after a 17-year-old family friend jumped out of the car she was driving and into traffic on Interstate 77 nearly two years ago.

The teen — Chadwick “Chad” Drake Miller of Olmsted Township, near Cleveland — was hit by several vehicles and died at the scene in Coventry Township.

The Summit County sheriff’s office, which investigated the case, said Rachelle E. Bruce, 27, provided the boy with alcohol at an Akron party before the incident Oct. 8, 2017.

Tests revealed that Miller had a blood-alcohol content of 0.199 percent at the time of his death, said Gary Guenther, an investigator with the Summit County medical examiner’s office.

That’s more than twice the limit at which a person is considered to be driving drunk in Ohio. Miller, who was a passenger, also was underage and not legally permitted to drink.

Rita Miller, Chad’s mother, told a Cleveland TV station in 2017 that her son had been at a baby shower and was expected home to attend church in the morning.

Investigators said Miller didn’t want to leave the party and became upset as Bruce was driving him home. At some point, the boy jumped from Bruce’s vehicle, which was traveling north.

He was struck by several vehicles driving south, investigators said.

According to the medical examiner’s report, this wasn’t the first time Chad Miller considered jumping from a moving vehicle.

Rita Miller told investigators that her son had a history of anxiety, depression and a compulsive disorder.

In the months before his death, Chad was riding on a freeway with his mother when he suddenly opened the passenger side door and threatened to jump. Rita Miller said she was able to reach across her son and close his door before anything happened.

When asked about why it took so long to charge Bruce, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said they were waiting to see how much alcohol was in Chad Miller’s system.

Toxicology tests can often take weeks or months. In this case, the Summit County Medical Examiner had the results in July, about nine months after the death.