A former church pastor from Washington will be heading to prison soon to serve his sentence stemming from the 2003 death of a college coed who was riding with a friend along the roadside.
Randall Foos maintained in court that he didn't see the bicyclist, Sara Casey, because the sun was in his eyes. The prosecution maintained Foos had been diagnosed with three eye diseases that hampered his eyesight in the year before the crash.
The Tacoma News Tribune quoted the victim's mother:
“Our goal all along has been to raise awareness that people with severe medical impairments need to be held accountable when they choose to drive and put others at risk.”
Appeals
The former pastor of the Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Kennewick appealed his vehicular manslaughter conviction to the state Court of Appeals and lost. The state Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
He had a month to turn himself in after the Supreme Court decision, but US Marshals had to track him down in Clark County, Nevada, and arrest him. He is expected to be returned to Washington state where he'll serve his 1-year 3-month prison sentence.
This is reminiscent of a 2007 case in which a legally blind Pennsylvania motorist struck and killed a Penn State professor who was riding his bicycle. The motorist, who claimed he had reached down to get a soda bottle, copped a plea and received nine months home confinement.
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