Elspeth McKeag holds a friend’s hand at her sentence hearing July 9 in Trumbull County Eastern District Court.
David A. Rice was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back, said his granddaughter, Angeleena M. Medovich.
According to character witnesses, so is Elspeth “Ann” McKeag.
Rice and McKeag, who apparently had never met each other, are the center of a tragedy that played out its possible final act on July 9, the day McKeag, who pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in Rice’s death, was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, a $500 fine, 1 year of probation and a 2-year driver’s license suspension.
Rice, 62, of Sharpsville, was driving his motorcycle westbound on Route 82 March 8 in Masury when McKeag, 88, of Hermitage, pulled her SUV into his path, Ohio Highway Patrol said. Medovich, 18, who was riding on the back of her grandfather’s bike, was critically injured.
The maximum sentence, 90 days in jail and a $750 fine, would have been a mere slap on the wrist, said Rice’s wife, Frances, but Prosecutor Deena DeVico said the circumstances only warranted a misdemeanor charge.
Frances said the family had been celebrating her husband’s birthday, which would have been March 9, and Rice wanted to go for a ride. He never came back.
“He was my best friend,” she said, noting they had been together 32 years. “He was my husband. He was my love. He was my caregiver.”
David had been caring for Frances, just as he had cared for their daughter, who had become disabled, Frances said. Together, they had raised Medovich and her brother from young ages.
“He took over everything I couldn’t do,” Frances said. “He was just a wonderful person and she took that from me.”
“I don’t believe we can recover,” Frances said. “I look for him to walk in the door and he’s not coming back.”
Medovich showed Trumbull County Eastern District Court Judge Marty Nosich X-rays of injuries to her arm, pelvis and back, and said that she is on the hook for medical bills not covered by McKeag’s insurance. Medovich was unable to go to her prom or her graduation, will never be able to ride a roller coaster, and will not be able to give birth naturally.
“When the accident happened, I didn’t see her slow down,” Medovich said. “I lost my grandfather. I lost my best friend.”
Larry Etheredge, spiritual leader of Unity Center of Girard, which McKeag attends, said McKeag has helped “hundreds and hundreds of people,” from providing a holistic remedy to a girl with poison ivy to helping Etheredge through a rough patch in his life when he lost a job and had to file for bankruptcy.
“Her character is not in question at any given time,” he said.
Mary Ellen Rodrigues, a friend of 46 years who stayed with McKeag for a month after the crash, said McKeag grieved Rice’s death every day.
“She said, ‘I didn’t see him. I didn’t see him,’” Rodrigues said.
McKeag tried to help Rice at the scene, even though she suffered various internal injuries from the crash, Rodrigues said.
The crash was a tragedy, but it was an accident, Rodrigues said.
“She (McKeag) didn’t wake up that morning and say, ‘Let me go and have an accident where somebody died,’” Rodrigues said.
McKeag faced the family and said she was sorry for the grief she caused.
“You have no idea,” she said. “I’m sorry. I never ever would have wanted to hurt any of you.”
“With all my heart, I love each and every one of you,” McKeag said, and blew them a kiss.
“I have cried and sobbed for everything that happened to you,” she said. “I’m sorry for all of this, everyone that has been involved in this.”
DeVico did not recommend a sentence, telling Nosich, “There’s no right answer here.”
Nosich said no sentence he could give would bring about healing or wholeness to Rice’s family and friends. He noted that McKeag had no criminal history.
