Plain News
Ohio man driving while distracted with phone sentenced to prison after fatal accident
A young Anabaptist man from Ohio was recently indicted in the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court of aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, and vehicular assault, a fourth-degree felony. The Ohio man had a courtroom full of supporters, both family and friends, who attended every day of the trial and testified to him being gentle, hardworking, and an asset to the church. "He would never, ever intentionally hurt someone," said a friend speaking on his behalf. Evidence points to speeding and being distracted by a cell phone as contributing factors to a fatal head-one vehicle accident that occurred in 2022 when a 2009 Chevy Silverado driven by the Anabaptist man collided with a GMC Terrain, causing serious physical injuries to the 83-year-old driver of the car and the death of his 81-year-old wife. In an interview with a police officer, the man admitted: "I was watching sports highlights on my phone." Pleading for mercy from the judge, the young man said, "I did not mean to cause any harm to anybody." The judge handed down a sentence of three years in prison and a 15-year driver's license suspension for the charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. The defense attorney in the case asked the judge to consider a lesser punishment, making mention of the fact that there's a civil lawsuit pending against the guilty party and his employer by the estate of the woman who passed away in the accident and her husband who died a few months later. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,308 people were killed by distracted driving in 2022. That's an average of nine deaths per day that could be avoided by drivers being focused and undistracted while at the wheel.
Bickerton offered her condolences. She agreed with Yacovone, saying everybody’s guilty of looking at their phone while driving. She said that’s why the law was put in place with punishment, to hold people accountable who don’t follow the law. She told Horst he wasn’t a bad person. She believed he was an upstanding citizen and what his friend and brother said about him. “You made a mistake that resulted in a horrible outcome,” she said.
She was troubled that they went through this whole process, making her question his remorse. She acknowledged the support he had in the courtroom and the fact that his brother couldn’t even get the words out he was so upset. Nobody is perfect, but it’s how people respond to address their mistakes.
https://www.morningjournalnews.com/news ... -accident/
Very few people who cause the deaths of others in an auto fatality, "mean to cause harm". So I am not sure how this helps in a court case.
I think that showing repentance is the probably the best thing to do in a court room, and maybe he did that. But it seems that the judge questioned this.
Having said that, I have done a lot of distracted driving so this could have been me.
Recently, after reading some articles in preparation for starting this thread, I committed myself to my family, to eliminate distracted driving as much as possible.
