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Text messaging driver sentenced to 180 days for hitting pedestrian in Bainbridge
By Pat Galbincea
January 08, 2010, 5:54PM
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/text_messaging_driver_in_bainb.html
He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and his drivers license was suspended for four years.
By Pat Galbincea
January 08, 2010, 5:54PM
CHARDON, Ohio -- A 50-year-old Bainbridge man was sentenced to 180 days in jail Friday for hitting a pedestrian May 5 while responding to a text message.
Geauga County Common Pleas Judge David Fuhry also suspended William Miralia's drivers license for four years and gave him three years probation. Miralia had pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular assault on Nov. 12.
After serving 30 days in jail, Fuhry said Miralia will get a work release, but must return to jail nightly.
Miralia was driving his minivan near the Bainbrook subdivision off Ohio 306, while Linda Kupiec, 52 was walking her dog at 8:45 p.m.
Miralia said he was distracted while text messaging and was unaware he had struck anyone until he saw damage to his minivan the next morning. Another motorist found Kupiec, a Kenston schools kindergarten teacher, in a roadside ditch. She was flown to the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
Bainbridge police said Miralia turned himself in the next day and was "deeply remorseful" once he learned he had hit Kupiec. Miralia lives in the same subdivision.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/text_messaging_driver_in_bainb.html
He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and his drivers license was suspended for four years.