Some people have a complicated relationship with driving.
James Howard appears to have a complicated relationship with driving legally.
A Thursday morning crash at Robinson Avenue and Young Street ended with Howard back in the Scioto County Jail, cited yet again for operating a vehicle under suspension.
And “again” is doing some heavy lifting here.
Portsmouth police responded around 10 a.m. after a white Toyota Camry and silver Ford Explorer were involved in a crash. The vehicles pulled into a nearby car wash while officers investigated.
Police soon discovered Howard had an outstanding Scioto County warrant and took him into custody.
His vehicle was impounded.
Howard was booked into jail on charges of:
- Operating a vehicle under suspension
- Possession of drug paraphernalia
- Possession of drug abuse instruments
He was also cited for failure to yield.
Haven’t We Done This Before?
Quite a few times, actually.
Howard had already been cited for driving under suspension twice in September alone, once on September 4 and again on September 25.
Back on May 28, he was cited for driving under suspension and having fictitious plates.
That means Thursday’s case appears to be at least his fourth driving-under-suspension case in less than five months.
And that is only 2026.
Court records show Howard was convicted of driving under suspension twice in 2025.
He was convicted of another suspension violation in 2024.
Keep going backward and the pattern is still there.
Records supplied to SCDN show convictions involving driving under suspension or financial-responsibility suspension in:
2014, 2013, 2012 and 2006.
There was also another financial-responsibility suspension case filed in 2017 that was dismissed.
So before counting this year’s still-pending cases, Howard has at least seven previous convictions involving driving while suspended dating back to 2006, based on the records reviewed by SCDN.
And now he’s facing it again.
The Driving Record Has Some Other Highlights
Suspended licenses aren’t the only traffic trouble in Howard’s court history.
In 2003, he was convicted of hit-skip, the charge commonly associated with leaving the scene of a crash.
That same year, a DUI/ALS case was filed and later closed.
Back in 1993, court records also show cases involving driving while suspended and DWI, although the records provided list those older cases only as closed and do not establish convictions.
There have also been assorted traffic allegations over the years involving stop signs, turn signals and other violations.
Now add Thursday’s failure-to-yield citation and a two-vehicle crash to the list.
Still Driving
The important distinction is that Howard has not been convicted of the new 2026 charges yet.
But the older record shows this isn’t a guy encountering a suspended license for the first time.
He has been convicted again and again for driving while suspended, then cited repeatedly for allegedly doing it again this year.
Thursday morning, police didn’t have to go looking for him.
A traffic crash brought them together.
And once officers checked who was behind the wheel, Howard was headed back to jail while his vehicle headed to the impound lot.
