Year After Fatal Accident, Churchville Man Charged With Manslaughter

Nearly a year after a Street man was killed in a head-on collision, police are holding the driver responsible on several charges.

Jordan Craig Stewart, now 27, of the 500 block of Bryarly Court in Churchville, was indicted Oct. 16 on charges of negligent manslaughter by vehicle, negligent homicide by auto while using drugs, and six related charges.

The charges stem from a crash that killed a 21-year-old man.

On Nov. 5, 2011, Joshua John Hanna, 21, was driving a 2008 Hyundai Elantra eastbound on Maryland Route 22. Meanwhile, Stewart was driving a 1994 Dodge Ram pickup in the opposite direction. Just before 4 p.m., the pickup crossed the center line in the 3100 block of Route 22 and hit the Hanna's car head-on, Maryland State Police said immediately following the crash.

Hanna was flown by medevac helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore where he was pronounced dead.

Stewart, who was 26 at the time, was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.

Stewart had been free until the indictment. He was being held Friday afternoon at the Harford County Detention Center in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The lengthy wait for an indictment is not unheard of, Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly said Friday.

"Most of the time it has to do with the length of time it takes to get the reports from police," Cassilly said. “They don’t regard their report complete until they get the medical examiner’s report and that takes three months right there."

Cassilly said it's a number of things that leave all involved waiting.

"We try and go faster than that because it doesn’t help us as prosecutors for that much time to go by, but we don’t seem to have much control over that," Cassilly said.

Stewart has faced drug and traffic charges in the past, including a 2007 guilty finding for driving while under the influence in Harford County, according to online court records. He received probation before judgement in that case.