Canton man sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison for causing fatal crash near Bolivar

NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ A Canton man has been sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison for causing a fatal crash on Interstate 77 near Bolivar in 2022.

Craig J. Hanslik, 54, pleaded guilty recently in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated drug trafficking, aggravated drug possession and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

More on Hanslik: Canton man pleads not guilty to charges in fatal December crash

Hanslik is currently an inmate at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut, Ohio, serving a sentence on a drug trafficking charge out of Stark County.

He was charged with being impaired when he drove his 2009 Lincoln MKZ off the right side of the road and hitting the rear of a disabled 2009 Honda Pilot SUV. The crash killed Canton resident Christopher T. Peters, 38, who was inside the Honda on the west berm of the southbound lanes of the interstate around 11:48 p.m. Dec. 29, 2022.

Hanslik had 140 grams, nearly five ounces, of methamphetamine in his car at the time of the crash. The crash report said the defendant had amphetamine in his blood.

Peters was waiting for a tow truck when the crash occurred.

At his sentencing hearing before Judge Elizabeth Lehigh Thomakos, Assistant Prosecutor Fred Scott asked that Hanslik be sentenced on one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and on aggravated trafficking in drugs. Both are second-degree felonies.

Judge Thomakos sentenced the defendant to eight to 12 years on the aggravated vehicular homicide charge and four to six years on the aggravated trafficking in drugs charge. The sentences will be served consecutively.

In addition, she ordered Hanslik to serve 180 days on the charge of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It will be served at the same time as the prison sentence. He also received a lifetime license suspension and was fined $7,500 on the aggravated trafficking in drugs charge.

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Canton man sentenced for causing fatal crash near Bolivar in 2022