Driver arraigned in traffic fatality

Angelique Dipman, 27, with her attorney, Joe Westmeyer, is arraigned in Oregon Municipal Court in the traffic death of Dameatrius McCreary, 5. She pleaded not guilty yesterday. Dameatrius's mother, Sandra TenEyck, wears a picture of her son at the hearing.

Morrison / The Blade
Buy This Image

Angelique Dipman, 27, with her attorney, Joe Westmeyer, is arraigned in Oregon Municipal Court in the traffic death of Dameatrius McCreary, 5. She pleaded not guilty yesterday. Dameatrius's mother, Sandra TenEyck, wears a picture of her son at the hearing.

An Ottawa County woman who said she was distracted by her cell phone last week when she struck and killed a 5-year-old Oregon boy pleaded not guilty at her arraignment yesterday in Oregon Municipal Court.

Angelique M. Dipman, 27, of Clay Township was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide for striking Dameatrius McCreary, a Coy Elementary School student, with her car after he stepped off a school bus and was attempting to cross Starr Avenue to get home from kindergarten.

He was pronounced dead at Toledo Hospital.

Oregon Municipal Judge Donald Z. Petroff granted the request of Ms. Dipman and her attorney, Joseph Westmeyer, to waive the preliminary hearing. The case was turned over to the Lucas County grand jury.

Dameatrius s mother, Sandra TenEyck, wears a picture of her son at the hearing.

Ms. Dipman was released on her own recognizance after the accident, and Judge Petroff ruled that she will continue to be supervised by the Lucas County pretrial/presentence department, a division of the common pleas court.

If convicted, Ms. Dipman faces a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

"She's very sorry this [accident] happened," Mr. Westmeyer said on behalf of Ms. Dipman after the arraignment.