TRUMBULL COUNTY Man gets 6 years for vehicular homicide

The defendant said he wished it was his life, not a teen's, that was taken.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 69-year-old man who plowed into a half-dozen girls while driving home from a day of drinking will spend the next six years in prison.
Shoulders slumped, arms wrapped around his bony frame, William Demidovich of Hubbard Township pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and felony hit and run in the courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The accident killed Krysten Studer, 14, of Grandview Avenue, and injured five other girls, all 14- and 15-year-olds. They had been walking on the side of state Route 304 in front of Pine Lakes Golf Course when Demidovich's car struck them from behind.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry for all the tears and sorrow and grief I have caused for all the families involved," said Demidovich, a former high school teacher, over the sobs from the victim's friends and family. "I wish that if that day ever was to happen again, I wish that it was my life that was taken, not Krysten's."
Drank all day
On the day of the accident, Demidovich began drinking around noon in a bar in Pennsylvania, and continued drinking and playing pool at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3767 in Hubbard until around 7 p.m., assistant prosecutor David Toepfer said.
His car struck the girls as he was on his way home. He was arrested at home by police a few hours later.
The VFW has been open only on a limited basis since being named, along with Demidovich, in a lawsuit by Krysten's estate. The suit charges that the VFW continued to serve Demidovich even though he was drunk.
Relatives of the dead girl addressed the judge and the packed courtroom before Demidovich's sentence was read.
"A lot of people think this brings closure," said Bryan Studer, Krysten's father. "It only brings closure to a part of it. That night, a wound was opened; that wound never heals."
siff@vindy.com