Former Toledoan found guilty of striking highway patrol vehicle

4/26/2018

BOWLING GREEN — A former Toledo man who struck an Ohio Highway Patrol vehicle parked in the median of the Ohio Turnpike, injuring the trooper, was found guilty Thursday of felonious assault.

Wood County Common Pleas Judge Reeve Kelsey, who presided over the three-day bench trial, also found Franklin D. Socha, 27, of Berea, Ohio, guilty of a misdemeanor count of assaulting a police dog. Socha is to be sentenced June 18.

Trooper Jason Archer and his canine, Muki, were in a sport utility vehicle monitoring eastbound traffic Dec. 17, 2015, when Socha swerved and struck the patrol car at a high rate of speed. He later told investigators he was suicidal. Trooper Archer was injured, although Muki was not.