Family outraged by ‘lightweight punishment’ for bus driver who struck and killed retired teacher while behind the wheel with suspended license

A public bus driver in Ohio had a suspended license when he hit and killed an 87-year-old retired schoolteacher walking across a street in a crosswalk near her home will not go to jail — but he will face a lawsuit alleging he should never have been driving.

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Samantha Silverstein on Thursday sentenced Deon Willis, 47, to five years probation, 1,000 hours of community service and a five-year suspension of his driver’s license in the death of Beverly Kinney, online court records show. He pleaded guilty to a vehicular homicide charge in July.

“In reading about Ms. Kinney, she volunteered at several local organizations that are constantly writing to this court that they need community service hours,” said Silverstein, local ABC affiliate WCPO reported. “And I know this seems like a very light sanction, but I want you to do this and think of her and think of her family every time you work one of those hours … So, I want you to do these hours and think about her every single time you do it, and give back to the community in the way that she did.”

After Willis’ guilty plea, members of the Kinney family said in a statement they were deeply disappointed, WCPO reported.

“Beverly’s life was worth so much more than this lightweight punishment, and Beverly’s family feels strongly that the full sentence should be imposed to protect the public from Willis’s dangerous driving,” the statement read from the family’s law firm Cooper Elliot. “However, with Willis’s liability for the accident established by his guilty plea, our firm is eagerly preparing for the civil trial. We look forward to holding Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) and Deon Willis accountable for their actions and making Cincinnati safer for all residents.”

Willis’ defense attorney said in his sentencing memo, arguing against jail time, that it was a tragic case. The married father of three had been a Metro bus driver for about six years. While he had a list of traffic infractions, he had no criminal record. His defense attorney said Willis accepts his responsibility for Kinney’s death, has had counseling and is “constantly troubled by the event.”

“Mr. Willis was clearly at fault,” the document said. “He has fully accepted responsibility and has verbally apologized and conveyed his sincere condolences to Ms. Kinney’s husband and son.”

Kinney was killed on Jan. 11 at Dana Avenue and Duck Creek Road. She had been about eight to 10 feet into the crosswalk when Willis, who was turning right, struck her.

At the time, Willis “was found to be operating with a suspended driver’s license status,” a crash report found, WCPO reported.

He was charged in the case on May 17. He was terminated from his job, effective June 10, for “failure to follow Metro’s Revised Mandatory Turning Procedures which resulted in a preventable pedestrian accident on January 11, 2024,” local affiliate WLWT reported.

In a statement, Cincinnati Metro said it had information as of Jan. 4, 2024, indicating Willis’ license had been valid.

“We did not receive any notifications from any source prior to the incident indicating otherwise,” Metro said in a statement, WLWT reported.

Kinney’s family said in a lawsuit that the crash was preventable, saying Willis had an abysmal driving record before he was hired with SORTA in 2018 and during his employment. The lawsuit cited a crash in which he ran a red light and struck a 24-year-old man on Dec. 1, 2018. The man was in a coma for two months.

“Despite knowing that Willis was dangerous behind the wheel and incompetent to drive its buses, SORTA continued to allow him to drive SORTA Metro buses,” the lawsuit said.

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