MORGANTOWN — The Granville man who struck a WVU student in a crosswalk on Monongahela Boulevard in February 2018 was sentenced in Monongalia County Magistrate Court on Thursday.
Garrett Tederick ran a red light and struck 20-year-old Sara Queen, of Weston, who was crossing the road in a crosswalk between the WVU Coliseum and the Creative Arts Center. Erik Brown, assistant prosecuting attorney, said Queen was struck by the truck’s mirror 2.4 seconds after the light turned red.
Tederick was sentenced to serve six months in jail for reckless driving with serious bodily injury and a $100 fine for failure to obey a traffic control device — the maximum for both charges. His jail sentence is suspended for four months of home confinement and two years of unsupervised probation. He was also ordered to pay $1,274 in restitution and serve 120 hours of community service at a nonprofit.
Magistrate Sandy Holepit said her first thought when reading the case was six months wasn’t enough, but after hearing emotional testimony from Queen’s mother and uncle she said she realized no one wanted to destroy Tederick’s life.
Queen was in a coma for about a month and on life support for about two weeks, Loretta Blake, her mother, said through tears.
“I do want to be thankful that the defendant is accepting responsibility for his actions,” Blake said. “I pray that Sara gets the gift of continued healing and I pray that the defendant can move on from this and have a wonderful life.”
Her comments caused Tederick to wipe tears away with a handkerchief.
Blake said no punishment could change what happened to her daughter but she thought the community service is something Queen would have wanted.
Following the accident, part of Queen’s skull was removed to allow her brain to swell. Blake said she couldn’t recognize her daughter when Queen’s brain was swelled three or four inches outside of her skull. Queen spent 65 days in Ruby Memorial Hospital and her medical bill so far is $2 million. Insurance has covered the bills, Blake said.
Brown said it’s miraculous that Queen lived but her survival came at a cost. Queen requires fulltime care. Blake said she quit her job to provide that care — putting the family in a financial struggle.
Queen has had multiple surgeries to fix, among other things, a broken eye socket, jawbone and cheekbone. Blake said her daughter still faces at least two more surgeries. Queen also suffers from dementia and is in physical therapy, neurocognitive therapy and speech therapy and sees a psychologist, Blake said.
“She struggles daily,” Blake said.
Tederick said he was truly sorry for the accident and that the last millisecond when he saw Queen will be with him forever.
“Every day I see that split second,” Tederick said. “That first millisecond when I see Sara, there’s nothing that will be able to get that out of my head.”
He said he prays the family can forgive him and knows more lives than just his and Queen’s were altered.
Tederick said he visited the hospital three days after the accident — and 15 minutes after the press release told him who he hit. There, he apologized to Queen’s family and said looking her grandparents in the eye and apologizing is one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do.
“We have a serious problem in this town,” Holepit said. “The infrastructure in this town is pathetic.”
Not enough roads, unsynchronized stoplights, too many people and too many cars all contribute to the situation causing frustration and attempts to run yellow lights, Holepit said.
She said cases like this one are becoming more and more common and she fears more like it are coming.
