Champion man gets 5 years in accident involving cyclist
Judge Kontos said the drunken driver's actions are similar to firing a gun into a crowd.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The mother of a 21-year-old Champion man nearly killed by a drunken driver as he rode his bicycle on his birthday last April sought justice for her son and protection for others.
On Monday, at the sentencing for Jason C. Parnell, 26, of Nevada Street, she believes she got that.
Parnell was sentenced to five years in prison and a 10-year suspension of his driver's license when he appeared before Judge Peter Kontos in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Kontos told Parnell that when he drives drunk, he is like a lethal weapon. "It's like drinking and firing into a crowd. It's lethal in your hands."
Parnell had pleaded guilty in December to aggravated vehicular assault while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and driving under suspension. The accident happened on North Park Avenue near Champion Street.
Convicted before
Parnell had been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs three times in 2003, and his driver's license was suspended at the time of the accident, said Ken Bailey, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.
After the accident, police tested Parnell's blood-alcohol level at 0.227, more than 21/2 times the legal limit of .08, Bailey said. Parnell told police he had consumed 12 or 13 beers before the crash.
Susan McCrimmon, mother of the victim, Jeremy Feidler, gave a statement before Parnell was sentenced -- describing how the collision gave Feidler a skull fracture just millimeters from his brain stem.
She said the collision threw her son into a ditch and shattered bones in both arms and one leg. She said he also suffered a collapsed lung and could have easily died.
McCrimmon said it was quite upsetting is that Parnell made no attempt to help her son after the accident. Instead he got on the phone to call his girlfriend. Only after bystanders saw the bicycle did they realize Feidler was lying in a ditch, she said.
Serious injuries
Feidler spent the first month after the accident in a coma. He needed months of therapy to learn to sit, stand, walk and talk.
"He had to be fed like an infant," she said as Parnell stood to the side listening. "He had to learn how to swallow. This is because with a traumatic brain injury, you forget how to do almost everything and have to relearn how all over again." Feidler sat in the back of the courtroom.
She added that her son still has lasting injuries and will always have a rod in one leg and plates and screws in both arms.
"I would like to see you impose the maximum sentence on him," McCrimmon said of Parnell. "How many more chances should he get to try to murder or to maim someone else? Do the right thing and show not only Parnell but the rest of the offenders out there this will not be tolerated."
After sentencing, McCrimmon seemed satisfied. Parnell's prison sentence could have ranged from between two and eight years. He received a mandatory sentence, meaning he must serve the whole five years.
"I'm happy he's not going to get out," Feidler said. "But I think he should have gotten more."
Parnell got the maximum penalty on the license suspension. The range was from two to 10 years. He will be eligible to get his license back in April 2015.
Bailey said that the accident occurred at 10:50 p.m. and that a trooper from the Ohio State Highway Patrol had seen Feidler's bicycle about 15 minutes before the crash; it had a rear reflector.
runyan@vindy.com