Canton firefighter’s suicide ruling heading for court battle

Jan. 16--AKRON -- No one disputes the fact Tonya R. Johnson was struck by a pickup truck and killed nearly two years ago as she tried to walk across state Route 8 in the city's North Hill area.

But was the 43-year-old Canton firefighter's decision that Feb. 22 afternoon an act of suicide?

Authorities say yes; her family says no.

Attorneys for Johnson's family have said from the beginning Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler wrongly ruled Johnson's death a suicide. They said they prodded her to investigate more thoroughly -- and even staged a protest with Johnson's family and friends outside of Kohler's office in April 2016 -- to no avail.

On Tuesday, they'll begin to present their case to Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones. Attorneys David DuPlain and Danielle Pierce filed a civil lawsuit last year, which among other things, seeks to have Kohler's suicide ruling overturned. Johnson, a graduate Washington High School, served as a Canton firefighter for 18 years.

"Suicide is not the appropriate ruling," Piece said. "She was a firefighter. She had a successful business and was a pillar of the community."

Pierce said Johnson and her husband of eight days were on their way back from Cleveland, where they were already putting their marital dissolution in motion on that day.

"She'd found out he was cheating on her," Pierce said.

According to court records, Johnson planned to pick up her younger sister, Tiffani Walker, in Canton at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 22. Johnson texted Walker at 3:29 p.m., to say she was running a little late.

Inside Johnson's Cadillac Escalade, an argument unfolded between her and her husband, Randey Johnson, according to a police report. Tonya Johnson phoned a friend, telling her "come get me, come get me."

The friend began driving north on Route 8. Randey Johnson stopped the vehicle alongside the southbound side of the highway, near the Tallmadge Avenue exit at about 4 p.m. That's when Tonya Johnson got out of the vehicle, crossed the south lanes of traffic and climbed over a median to the north side of traffic -- where she was struck and killed.

The family contends her death was a tragedy but not intentional. Their civil complaint contains seven separate counts, including one against a life insurance company that DuPlain said has declined to pay on a $3 million policy because it contained language excluding payouts on death by suicide.

The bench trial, which deals only with the count against the medical examiner, is expected to last three days.

A list of potential trial witnesses filed with the court includes more than 30 people for Johnson family. Among them are Tonya Johnson's two sons and her daughter, as well as Dr. Michael Welner, of New York, to present a psychological autopsy and death investigation report.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 or

[email protected].

On Twitter: @tbotosREP

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