By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA — The woman charged with vehicular homicide for triggering the Dec. 23 accident that killed a bystander at a live nativity scene will return to court next month.
Jennifer Loeffel, 29, of Lambros Lane in Ashtabula, has been charged with vehicular homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor, and failure to yield the right of way, also a misdemeanor.
Loeffel turned her vehicle left into a pickup truck which then careened into the bystanders outside Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1342 W. Prospect Road, police said.
On March 2, Loeffel appeared in Municipal Court flanked by her attorney, William Bobulsky, to answer to the charges. City Solicitor Michael Franklin then met with Loeffel and Bobulsky and a second pretrial was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. April 22 in Municipal Court.
Ashtabula Police Sgt. Ronald Kaydo has called the Dec. 23 crash a “freak accident.” As many as six people, including Loeffel, suffered injuries, said Kaydo, who is commander of the department’s fatal crash investigation team.
Kaydo has said Loeffel may have been looking at the nativity scene and did not notice the pickup coming toward her in the other direction. When she began to turn left onto a side street, she turned into the side of Roger Casteel's pickup. The impact sheared off the left front wheel of Casteel's vehicle, rendering the brakes useless.
“He told me he saw he was headed right for the people but there was nothing he could do,” Kaydo said.
The pickup plowed into a group of people and killed Richard Seckman, 57, of Ashtabula. Another man, Eli Roath, 53, also of Ashtabula, was critically injured and transported to Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center.
Casteel, of Painesville, was not injured.
Loeffel had three children in her car. The children were not injured.
Norm Jepson, a supervisor for Community Care Ambulance Service, was portraying one of the magi in the nativity scene that night. He said people were flying through the air.
One male victim was pinned against a telephone pole by the truck, reports show.
Because of the number of victims, several ambulances were called to the scene.
