Judge says she feels 'misled' in motorcycle charity run crash case
The Lowellville woman accused of pulling her car into the path of a charity motorcycle ride this past summer faces a new traffic charge for allegedly driving 60 miles per hour in a 20-mph school zone. Now a visiting judge is letting people know she is upset with the way the motorcycle case was handled.
Campbell Police say they ticketed Gloria Dothard on Wednesday afternoon along Coitsville Struthers Road near Campbell Middle School, just one day after Dothard’s attorney was allowed to enter a “no contest” plea to a minor traffic violation filed in connection with the earlier motorcycle crash in which one of the injured victims died.
Visiting Judge Miriam Ocasio, who accepted that plea, filed comments in Campbell Municipal Court offering condolences to the families of the crash victims, saying she isn’t happy with the way the case was handled.
It all stems from a crash along Route 616 on June 25th, when Dothard was charged with failure to yield after State Troopers said she drove her SUV into the path of two oncoming motorcycles she was pulling into a private drive in Coitsville.
The motorcycle ride was a memorial run to remember Teddy Foltz, who at the age of 14 was murdered by his mother’s boyfriend.
According to the patrol, two motorcyclists veered off the road to avoid hitting the SUV, crashing on the side of the road.
One of the bikers, 56-year-old Paul Halfelder of Youngstown, was taken to Mercy Hospital with serious injuries.
Another motorcyclist, 55-year-old Harold Hagerty, and his passenger, Patricia Hagerty, 56, both of Youngstown, were also hospitalized with serious injuries.
The failure to yield charge was reduced to a taillight violation, to which Dothard pleaded no contest in mid-August.
Four months after the crash, Patricia Hagerty died.
Ocasio writes in her court entry that no one told her about the seriousness of the accident until after she accepted Dothard’s plea. The judge ordered Campbell Law Director Brian Macala to put in writing his oral motion to vacate the court’s judgment.
According to Ocasio, Macala never submitted the written motion as ordered. So, during Tuesday’s court hearing, Dothard’s taillight conviction and $100 fine remained in place.
Judge Ocasio wrote that under Ohio’s Marsy’s Law, the victim and her representative should have been notified by Macala and the court about the status of the case.
“I want to make it very clear that this acting judge was never told the facts and nature of this case and I am extremely upset and feel like I was misled by all parties,” wrote Ocasio in her court entry.
21 News is seeking a comment from Macala, who as of this writing, has not responded.
In addition to the recent speeding ticket, Dothard has been charged with two counts of assault in connection with the motorcycle crash. No court date has been set for that case.