Tuesday, March 02, 1999
Hit-run driver gets three years
Accident killed crossing guard
BY DAN HORN and TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If Janice Rose Redmon were alive, her family says she probably would have forgiven the man who rammed his truck into her. But the family is having a harder time coming to grips with what happened.
The 61-year-old school crossing guard died four months ago in a hit-and-run involving a man leaving a Northside bar.
She died on Robert Writesel's 35th birthday. He will spend more than three years in prison for her death.
The Northside man was sentenced Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated vehicular homicide.
He also pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular assault for injuring a bystander. Judge Fred Cartolano sentenced him to three years and three months.
The sentencing came days after family members said they were reminded of the incident after a Clermont County couple and their died in an wreck believed to be alcohol-related.
“It kind of touched home,” said Debbie Redmon, 39, of Northside, Mrs. Redmon's daughter-in-law. “People look at it like "it's not my family' and do nothing about it. Laws need to be changed.”
She advocates stiffer penalties when alcohol is involved in wrecks.
But Ruth Blackburn, Mr. Writesel's 59-year-old mother in Norwood, says her son shouldn't bear all the blame.
Mrs. Redmon, known to generations of Northside children as “Grandma,” was breaking up a street fight involving her relatives when Mr. Writesel hit her.
Though her son said he had a few drinks that night before driving, Mrs. Blackburn looks at it as a freak accident that happened because of people fighting in the street.
Her son still cries every time he talks to her from jail, she said.
“He said, "Mom, this will be with me the rest of my life,'” she said. “He said, "I never meant to hurt anyone.' I hate it. My son, he may look tough, but inside he's like a little kid yet.”
Carolyn Cannon, 44, of Mount Airy has little sympathy for him. Ms. Cannon's own mother died in a car wreck, and Mrs. Redmon raised her. She, too, wants laws changed to keep drivers such as Mr. Writesel in jail.
“As far as I'm concerned, he could never get enough time,” she said. “Three years is nothing.”
What does the latest road hog say about us?
Boy on bike critically injured by hit-skip truck
How can we stop drunken drivers?
Two Clermont drivers charged in deaths
How states punish drunken drivers
Health care plans ranked
Miami president's daughter eludes kidnappers
Professor sues Miami U to keep thong swimsuit
Concerns raised for Justin
Saving cats is her calling
Spaying and neutering services
Greater Tri-State Animal Rescue and Shelter Network
Aquarium nets sponsors to support largest exhibits
Voters face blitz on mayor-reform plan
How mayor's role would change
Blighted buildings tear at town
Ex-jailer denies he exposed himself
Forums let people weigh in on light rail
Hit-run driver gets three years
Jury out in minister's sex-abuse retrial
Public computer puts Middletown online
Voice-mail defense countered
Web site, hot line devoted to missing woman
Xavier resolves toilet paper revolt
4 in running for Butler bench
Car phones' role in wrecks queried
Edgewood huddles to stop jail
Grilling, wait nearly over for new police chief
Lawsuit claims cemetery lost remains
Loebs' legacy lifts Warren County
Lucas faces tough audiences
Newport water rates rise by a third
Paper plant accidents raise fears in Franklin
Pictoria Island plan to be shown
Restaurant tax hard to swallow
TRISTATE DIGEST
Turfway sale should close mid-month
