The family of a Canton firefighter who was hit by a car and killed on State Route 8 in February protested Monday the medical examiner's ruling that her death was a suicide.
The Summit County Medical Examiner ruled last week that Tonya Rae Johnson committed suicide when she walked into traffic on Feb. 22.
The family held a press conference Monday at 11 a.m. outside the medical examiner's office on North Summit Street in Akron, discussing how the facts surrounding the firefighter's death make them question the ruling.
Attorneys representing Johnson's estate believe the death should be ruled accidental and will argue for a change in the ruling in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
"They just wanted to write my mother off and call it a suicide," Tonya's son Trevon Boone said at the news conference Monday. "Because they didn’t feel like doing their job. That’s how I feel. They didn't feel like doing their job. So I’m going to make them do their job. That's why we’re here today. We’re protesting that ruling. We’re going to make them do their job. Tonya Johnson was an upstanding member of the community. She was a pillar down in Canton, Ohio. And I feel disrespected that she doesn’t get the same respect that she gets in Canton up here in Akron. Twenty minutes up the highway. Very disrespected."
Johnson's young daughter Temaria, 12, also stressed her mother would not take her own life.
"Whoever believes that my mother would take her own life obviously doesn’t know her," Temaria told reporters. "You could tell my mom loved life by the way she smiled and laughed and the words that she spoke to people. My mom was a very strong Christian woman who didn’t believe in suicide or self harm."
Attorney Danielle Pierce believes the medical examiner does not enough proof to show Johnson committed suicide.
"In the state of Ohio, the law presumes a death was not a suicide unless substantial evidence exists allowing for suicide as the only reasonable interpretation," Pierce said.
Johnson's relatives said Tonya and her husband of just eight days, Randey, had signed papers to dissolve their marriage on the same day that she died.
Boone said there was also a prenuptial agreement in place.
"If they ever get a divorce, he gets nothing, but in the event of her death, and they're still married, he gets one-third of her estate ad a chunk of change," Boone said.
Reached by phone on Monday, Randey Johnson denied signing any divorce papers and stressed he loved Tonya and did not benefit in any way from her death.
"They're (her family) keep trying to pull up stuff that's irrelevant instead of what's important.
Randey Johnson also claimed Tonya talked seriously about suicide on two or three other occasions.
"All the questions that they have, I have a few questions too."
The Summit County Medical Examiner released this statement in response to the protest:
As previously released, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office has determined that the manner of death for Ms. Tonya R. Johnson on February 22, 2016 was a suicide and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. This determination was made following, and as a result of, the Summit County Medical Examiner's lengthy investigation and examination, as well as the investigation of the Akron Police Department. This Office is aware that Ms. Johnson's family disputes the determination of the manner of death and is further aware that Ohio law provides a legal process for challenging the determination of the manner of death. Because the family may choose to pursue the legal process for challenging the determination of the manner of death, this Office will provide no further comment on this matter to the public.
Police said Johnson got out of her car during an argument with her husband over directions while they were on the expressway.
She crossed three southbound lanes, climbed over a cement barrier and was hit by a truck in the northbound lanes of the highway. She was dead before police arrived.
