After a week long trial, The trial of Amy Weiss has come to an end. Today, the jury in the case found Amy Weiss GUILTY of Careless Driving Resulting In Death, in the crash that killed 10-year-old “Ollie” Stratton, a Class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense, and is governed by Colorado Revised Statutes, Section 42-4-1402. This class one misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of up to 1 year in jail, and a $1000 fine.
Watching this trial was painful to anyone with a shred of empathy. Ollie’s mother, Clarissa, and husband Rod, endured almost a year and a half of a terrible ordeal leading up to this trial, that culminated with a defense attorney that saw his closing arguments as an opportunity to cast blame on a 10 year old boy that was not there to defend himself.
After the death of their son, Clarissa and Rod, put up a Ghost Bike in memorial to their son, as has been done for many who have lost their lives due to road violence. They endured that memory being taken down several times, and a campaign to permanently remove it led by Deputy Fire Chief Tyler Drage. As one of the defense witnesses, he claimed the Ghost Bike caused him emotional distress, (with no regard or feelings of any emotions of the Stratton family).
During the trial, we learned that, in the moments following the crash, Ms. Weiss, in the midst of deleting texts she was making within seconds of the crash, and manually locking her phone, instead of calling 911, she called Mr. Drage, a family friend. He arrived on the scene, he said he performed a “2 hand cervical spine stabilization hold” which requires both hands. But video evidence showed he used one hand, while using the other to call his own wife to come over quickly because their friend, Amy Weiss was in distress.
This is the world that the Stratton’s have lived in. Having a memorial destroyed by a first responder, Tyler Drage, who showed more concern for his friend, that had just killed a boy while texting and driving, than then that of the boy himself as he lay dying; and not even allowing a family to memorialize their own son.
This was brought to the attention to the court by the District Attorney only to see the Defense attorney jump up and scream directly at District Attorney Gordan McLaughlin, to the point the judge had to intervene to end his rant.
Today’s verdict does not change that and will never make up for any pain. It only puts responsibility on the shoulders of where it belongs, and also brings light to a bigger problem.
What is that problem? It lies in 2 questions: First of all, what makes anyone feel that they have the right to purposely distract themselves from driving a 2+ ton automobile and put others at risk because their text is so important. and second: What does it take to become so self centered, that when a tragedy like this does occur, someone’s immediate reaction is to focus on them self, instead of the person laying on the street.
By: Gary Robinson, Editor, Colorado Avid Cyclist
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