Woman convicted in fatal crash
10/10/2018A Toledo woman pleaded no contest Wednesday to causing a crash that killed an elderly couple.
Peggy Yeager, 33, of the 2700 block of Tremainsville Road, told investigators she was reaching for her ringing cell phone when she clipped a vehicle traveling on the opposite side of Central Avenue on April 5.
A knob on the case caused her cell phone to get stuck in her sweatshirt. During the struggle for the device, she veered right and overcorrected to the left, striking another car. She continued driving until her front left tire fell off.
The other car lost control and was hit by an oncoming dump truck, assistant county prosecutor Drew Wood said. The elderly couple in the car — Alfred Michalak, 89, and Phyllis Michalak, 88, both of Toledo — later died of their injuries.
Yeager pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, both third-degree felonies. When defendants enter this plea, they are not admitting guilt but are stating that they offer no defense. It is treated the same as a guilty plea.
Additional charges of second-degree felony aggravated vehicular homicide and failure to stop after an accident, a third-degree felony, will be dismissed at sentencing, scheduled for Oct. 31. Judge Gary Cook could send her to prison for up to 10 years and suspend her driver’s license for life.