Driver Who Fled Amish Buggy Crash That Injured Pregnant Woman Pleads Guilty; Arrested Again For Drunk Driving
Another ending of sorts, this one on a story out of Williams County, Ohio we’ve been following since November.
The driver who injured Martha Wagler, a 27-year-old Amish woman, and her two children in a hit-and-run crash last fall has taken a plea deal.
As we covered back in November and again in December, Wagler’s buggy was struck from behind on November 12 in her community. The driver fled the scene.
Wagler and her two children were taken to hospital with serious injuries. The crash forced Wagler to deliver her baby two months early. Here’s the latest news in this case, via WTVG:
Michael Quillen, 32, of Bryan, took a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to three counts of failure to stop after an accident and one count of tampering with evidence in the case.
Court filings show the state is recommending sentence of nearly four years in prison, though he could face up to 7.5 years. He’s also subject to up to $25,000 in fines and more than $750,000 in restitution.
At the time of our last update, Quillen had been identified by the Ohio State Highway Patrol as the driver of the white Chevrolet Silverado involved, but he had not been arrested and no charges had been filed.
His truck had been located about two weeks after he hit Martha Wagler’s buggy, parked behind a fence, as you can see in the image below. The damaged front end is circled.
To recount the harm done to Martha Wagler and her three children, from an earlier report by WTVG:
The pregnant woman in the buggy was forced to deliver her baby two months early, and her other two children were seriously injured. Body camera audio captured a trooper saying, “A baby over there has a deep gash on his head.”
In a letter to 13 Action News, the father of the woman wrote that his youngest granddaughter was born two months early and remains in the hospital. She will be there for more than a month, and the family has been unable to hold the baby.
The grandfather said his granddaughter, who was riding in the buggy, had a broken elbow with pins in her arm. Her brother is now home recovering from a skull fracture.
The tampering with evidence charge is a new detail. It wasn’t part of what was publicly known back when Quillen was first identified. So fleeing the scene wasn’t the only thing he’s accused of doing wrong that night.
In exchange for the guilty plea, they are going to drop charges of possession of cocaine and driving under a court suspension.
That first dropped charge hints at what may be a pattern with this guy. Three months after the buggy crash, Quillen was arrested again, this time in Indiana, on a drunk driving charge. That case is still going through the court system.
According to a police report obtained by 13 Action News, he wasn’t supposed to be driving in either instance, because his license was suspended both times.
It’s safe to say that a minimum of four years with Quillen off the road is going to improve road safety for the people of Williams County, Amish and non-Amish alike, however marginally.
No updated info here on the recovery of Martha Wagler and her children including the new baby, but I’m going to hope that no news on that is good news.
