Observe how the media changes the focus in this article
PEDESTRIAN FATALITY
Texting driver sent to prison for 5 1/2 years – This is the headline
Saturday, November 14, 2009 3:21 AM
By Bruce Cadwallader and Meredith Heagney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Sara J. Small cried when the sentence was announced.
The young woman listened, expressionless, as a detective and then a judge said she hadn’t shown remorse for the death of a man she struck while driving and texting.
Sara J. Small shook her head slightly as if to dispute their assertion but didn’t speak to defend herself when given the chance.
Her demeanor changed, however, after Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David E. Cain sentenced her yesterday to 5 years in prison. Small, 24, the mother of a 5-year-old boy, cried along with several supporters before deputies quickly escorted her from the courtroom.
The crash was a "tragedy waiting to happen," said Cain, who compared driving and texting to Russian roulette. At this point, you think that all she did was text while driving.
The Far North Side woman had admitted to hitting "something" with her car about 3:30 a.m. on July 28, 2008, while texting on her cell phone. She did not report the accident to police for four days, first cleaning her car and hiring a lawyer, prosecutors said.
Worthington police said motorists found Domingo Aparicio Hernandez, 28, bleeding along the side of Schrock Road in Worthington the next morning. He died shortly after surgery at Ohio State University Medical Center.
Although Small had her car cleaned, police found Hernandez’s blood and hair on the vehicle. Small had said she thought she hit a rock or a deer.
At her sentencing yesterday, Lt. Mike Doherty said he thinks Hernandez might have survived had Small called for help.
"We saw no remorse in her actions or comments," Doherty told Cain. "I went to the hospital and basically watched this young man die."
Hernandez left behind an 8-year-old daughter in Mexico, where he was buried. Cain sentenced Small to prison and ordered that she pay $4,638 for the costs of Hernandez’s funeral and transporting his body.
Hernandez’s cousin, Gil Aparicio, spoke briefly through a translator, asking the court for help with the $1,000 he spent to move the body.
He said he didn’t have much else to say.
Small’s attorney, Jeffery M. Blosser, said Small showed a lot of remorse for her actions in their conversations. He asked Cain to think of her young son.
Small pleaded guilty to three felony charges in September: aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop and tampering with evidence.
She admitted to drinking at two bars and being distracted by her phone during the crash, which damaged her windshield and fender. Okay, NOW you get the real story – in the last paragraph. She was impaired to begin with.
I get that texting can be dangerous, but let’s be real – this girl was impaired before she even got into her car. The texting probably had nothing to do with it.
