Motorist who killed Sylvania Northview girl permitted to drive

Cynthia Anderson's vehicle struck 15-year-old girl boarding school bus

Cynthia Anderson was driving a vehicle that killed Morgan Duris, 15, in Sylvania.

Nearly four years after striking and killing a Sylvania Northview High School student as she was crossing the street to board a school bus, a Toledo woman on Tuesday was granted the right to drive to and from work.

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Frederick McDonald granted a motion by Cynthia A. Anderson, 70, to reinstate her driving privileges for work only.

Anderson, who works in a private home as a caregiver, pleaded no contest in 2010 to a felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide for the Jan. 21, 2010, incident that killed 15-year-old Morgan Duris. The teen was crossing Erie Street near Apple Meadow Drive in front of her family’s home shortly after 7 a.m. when Anderson’s westbound vehicle hit Morgan before she boarded the eastbound bus.

As part of a plea agreement, which had the approval of Morgan’s family, Anderson was placed on community control for three years and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Judge McDonald suspended her driver’s license for 10 years, though prosecutors said at the time they would not oppose allowing her to have work privileges after 30 days.

Calling it “one of the more difficult cases” he could recall, Judge McDonald pointed out that Anderson previously requested work privileges on two occasions and twice he had denied her request.

After listening to Morgan’s mother tearfully tell the court she did not think it was fair for Anderson to have the right to drive, the judge noted that Anderson had completed her probationary period successfully, was genuinely remorseful and concerned immediately after the accident occurred, and had no prior criminal record.