2 enter guilty pleas in unrelated vehicular assault cases

Submitted by the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office

Niagara County District Attorney Brian D. Seaman announced two defendants entered guilty pleas this week in unrelated vehicular assault cases happening on the same day in June of last year. 

Ashley M. Metro, age 45, of Niagara Falls, plead guilty to vehicular assault in the second degree and admitted to operating her vehicle while impaired by the influence of cocaine and cannabis, and as a result caused serious physical injury to another. Metro was driving her vehicle while impaired in a residential neighborhood in Niagara Falls on June 22, 2025, when she struck and seriously injured a 10-year-old girl riding a scooter. The child was rushed to the hospital by emergency responders and is doing well more than a year after the incident. 

Metro faces up to four years in prison when she returns to be sentenced by County Court Judge John Ottaviano.

The case was investigated by the Niagara Falls Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nichole Tarbell.

Barbara A. Rodgers, age 24, of Lockport, entered a guilty plea to the crimes of assault in the second degree and driving while impaired by the combined influence of drugs including fentanyl and cannabis. Rodgers was operating her vehicle while impaired on Transit Road in the Town of Lockport, also on June 22, 2025, when she slammed into the rear of another vehicle forcing that vehicle off the road and causing serious injury to a passenger in her own vehicle, as well as to another person in the vehicle she struck.

Rodgers faces up to seven years in prison when she returns to court to be sentenced by County Court Judge Caroline Wojtaszek.

The case was investigated by the New York State Police and prosecuted by Vehicular Crimes Bureau Chief Christine Savoia.

Seaman said, “The callous and reckless decisions by these defendants to drive under the influence of drugs caused very serious injuries to three individuals and placed the lives of countless others at risk. There should be a correspondingly serious consequence for these crimes, which we will ask the judges to impose at sentencing.”