The former Metro bus driver who hit and killed an 87-year-old retired schoolteacher in January will face up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine when sentenced in the case next month.
Deon Willis could also lose his driver’s license for one to five years.
Willis on Tuesday pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter in the Jan. 11 death of Beverly Kinney, with the city prosecutor’s office agreeing to dismiss four similar charges.
Willis, 47, will return to Cincinnati Municipal Court on Aug. 29 for sentencing. Judge Samantha Silverstein will consider statements from Kinney’s family and a presentencing investigation about Willis at that time.
In the meantime, Willis will be monitored electrically but otherwise free. His lawyer, Richard Goldberg, asked for that arrangement to allow Willis to find a job and work. Metro fired him June 10, saying he violated its procedures on turning when he drove into Kinney’s path as she made her way across a Hyde Park street in a crosswalk and with the walk signal.
Willis had driven for Metro since February 2018 and was currently paid just more than $67,000 a year.
'We accepted his apology'
During the Tuesday hearing, Ed Cloughessy said he and Kinney had been inseparable since 2007.
They met after Cloughessy had a dizzy spell at an area YMCA and Kinney, a volunteer at the facility, showed up at his Lebanon house to check on him.
He invited her in and they shared stories about the spouses they both lost in 2006.
“It wasn’t too long before we both shedding tears,” said Cloughessy, 85.
They married a year and half later, spending time traveling, biking, volunteering and participating in their church.
“Now that she’s gone, I’m facing the rest of my life with the impact of loneliness and sadness and anger,” Cloughessy said.
After the hearing, Cloughessy and Kinney’s son, John, met with Willis in the judge’s chambers.
“We listened to Mr. Willis apologize and we accepted his apology,” John Kinney said.
'Our family feels bad too'
Asked for his reaction, Willis told The Enquirer “I’m not going to talk to the press.”
But his sister, Jamisha Willis, said their family feels bad about Kinney’s death, calling it a “true accident.”
“We give our condolences,” she said outside the courthouse. “Our family feels bad too. Don’t think we don’t care. We care. We have a heart.”
Willis said she was pleased her brother could talk to Kinney’s family in private.
“I feel good he was able to go in there by himself to apologize to that family.”
Misdemeanor charge still 'tough to swallow'
Cloughessy and Kinney indicated they would press on with a civil suit against Willis and Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, Metro’s operator.
They filed suit June 10 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, with charges that include wrongful death, negligence and recklessness.
The Kinney family accepted the outcome of Tuesday’s hearing, but not happily.
“We were thinking a trial might be the better way to do this instead of accepting the shortcut,” Cloughessy said. The family had hoped officials would seek felony charges against Willis. “It’s tough to swallow,” John Kinney said.
They later issued a brief statement, saying they were "deeply disappointed that Ohio law does not allow for charging Deon Willis with a felony for his reckless driving," and noting that Willis was driving without a valid license and had a history of serious accidents.
"Beverly's life was worth so much more than this lightweight punishment," the statement said.
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