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NEWTON FALLS -- William Dally, 71, of Phalanx Mills Herner Road, Southington, pleaded guilty earlier this week to a charge of vehicular homicide in connection to the April 2019 death of a female pedestrian on Helsey Fusselman Road.
Dally, who will be sentenced 1:30 p.m. Feb. 9 after a background investigation, appeared Tuesday in Newton Falls Municipal Court with his attorney Sam Amendolora. He could get up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine after pleading to the first-degree misdemeanor in the Southington fatal accident.
Ohio State Highway Patrol reports show that 65-year-old Kathleen Westenfelder of Southington was struck by Dally's westbound Chevrolet Silverado pickup shortly before 5 p.m. on April 8, 2019, as she walked westbound on Helsey Fusselman Road. The report states Westenfelder was transported to Trumbull Regional Medical Center by ambulance and then transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where she died two-and-a-half hours later.
According to the report, a trooper observed Dally showed strong signs of impairment with bloodshot and glassy eyes and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage. However, a blood-alcohol test was negative for alcohol and the crime lab did not detect any drugs in his system. A urine test for William Dally reported .077 percent of alcohol. The legal limit for driving is .08 percent.
Dally told the trooper he was driving over the hillcrest when he saw the woman looking down at her cellphone and walking on the road's edge, with one foot on the gravel berm. A westbound driver, however, stated the victim was looking ahead and had nothing in her hands, except a walking stick.
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