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"Together, we're doing something about Drinking and Driving"

The events leading to the death of
Sarah Elizabeth Reedy

12/14/83 - 6/23/99

This account has been pieced together from police reports, filed witness statements, and court proceedings.

Sometime between 4 and 5 p.m. on the afternoon of June 23, 1999, eighteen-year-old Jacob Warner picked up Kelly Berry, 20, and John Terrell II, 18, at John Terrell's home in a 1979 Cadillac Coup de Ville which was registered to Jacob Warner's father, Randall. The three of them drove to Moraine Drive Thru (a.k.a. Fat Daddy's) where Jacob Warner purchased 54 beers from Fat Daddy's employee James Walker. James Walker knew Jacob Warner and was completely aware that Warner was not of legal age to purchase alcohol, yet sold it to him nonetheless. The three adults then drove to West Carrollton where they picked up fifteen-year-old Sarah Reedy and her best friend, a sixteen-year-old girl.

With Jacob Warner driving, the three men and two girls then traveled in the Cadillac to Caesar's Creek Lake - a state park in southwestern Ohio. They began consuming the alcohol on their way to the lake. At approximately 6:30 p.m. they arrived at the park, used the beach entrance, and went to a shelter/picnic area where there was a swimming hole. By this time, Jacob Warner was beginning to show signs of intoxication (described as acting "stupid" and doing things such as jumping from picnic tables into shallow water).

The five left the park approximately forty-five minutes after arriving. Kelly Berry and the sixteen-year-old girl rode in the back of the car, John Terrell sat in the passenger's seat, Sarah in the middle, and Jacob Warner got behind the steering wheel. The driver continued drinking, driving recklessly as they headed towards home. Jacob Warner was speeding, passing vehicles on a hilly country road, and randomly swerving across lanes - jerking the car around to amuse himself and frighten his passengers. Doing sixty miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour zone, Kelly Berry and John Terrell told Jacob Warner to slow down. At one point Kelly Berry yelled at the driver to slow down. Jacob Warner looked into the back seat, smiled, and said, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Despite the pleas of his passengers, Jacob Warner continued "showboating". Finally, while travelling between sixty-three and sixty-five miles per hour, he whipped the Cadillac to the left, overcorrected back to the right, and struck a guardrail on a small bridge crossing a creek. The car flipped in the air, sending Sarah through the windshield before landing on its right side and coming to rest against a tree. The time of the call to the dispatcher was 8:06 p.m.

Sarah was taken by ambulance from the scene at 8:36. She was conscious, showed no visible signs of trauma, and begged the emergency personnel to tend to her friends first. En route to the hospital, the attending technician asked Sarah if anything hurt. Sarah replied that she was having difficulty breathing. The EMT placed an oxygen mask over Sarah's face and asked her if that was better. Sarah replied, "Not really". She then went into cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead at 9:10 p.m.

The coroner listed the cause of death as multiple trauma. The autopsy stated that her neck had been broken and a main artery severed, which in turn filled her lungs with blood. Her BAC was approximately .07% - well over the allowable amount in the state of Ohio for a minor. John Terrell II was seriously injured in the crash. Kelly Berry received many cuts and bruises, and the sixteen year old girl suffered a broken arm, many flesh wounds, and the mental anguish of losing her very dearest friend.

Jacob Warner

Driver of the vehicle Sarah was killed in

Jacob Warner tested .07% at a local hospital (his wounds were minor). Dr. Harry Plotnick, a chemist who reviewed the chemical test and other data about the day/time of crash, determined that Jacob Warner was probably at about .085% BAC when the crash occured - below Ohio's definition of intoxicated per se for a driver (though still well above the legal limit for a person under twenty-one). The grand jury in Warren County, Ohio indicted Jacob Warner on counts of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide and Involuntary Manslaughter (felonies of the third degree) for Sarah's death and Aggravated Vehicular Assault (a felony of the fourth degree) for injuries sustained by John Terrell. In January of 2000 Mr. Warner pleaded guilty to the charges of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide and Aggravated Vehicular Assault. He was sentenced by Judge P. Daniel Fedders to two years in the state penitentary for Sarah's death and one year for the Aggravated Vehicular Assault (to run concurrently) with the possibility of being admitted into CCR - a halfway house - after serving eighteen months of his sentence. His operator's license was suspended for five years on each count (to run consecutively), making him eligible for full driving privileges in January 2010. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $660 to John Terrell II and approximately $3,300 to Sarah's estate. After his release from incarceration in January 2002, Jacob Warner will be on probation for three years.

As of December, 2006, Jacob Warner has yet to fulfill his obligation of paying restitution for the death of Sarah Reedy as ordered by the court.

James Walker, the clerk who sold the beer, was charged with Sale of Alcohol to a Minor (a misdemeanor of the first degree). He pleaded no contest and was found guilty by Judge Tom Hanna of Kettering Municipal Court in March of 2000. James Walker was sentenced to 180 days in jail - 168 suspended, a fine of $1000 - $900 suspended, 100 hours of community service, and three years of supervised probation. In Feburary of 2001, after performing only eighteen of his required 100 community service hours, James Walker was placed back in jail for three weeks. He was given a little over a month to finish his community service, which he finally did.

There were several lawsuits against Fat Daddy's Drive Thru for the company's part in Sarah's death and John Terrell II's injuries. There was also a lawsuit on behalf of the injured sixteen year old. Sarah's estate also sued Jacob Warner for wrongful death. A settlement was reached between Sarah's estate and Jacob Warner. There was also a settlement reached by all parties with Fat Daddy's Drive Thru in the sum of $1.59 million.

 In February, 2005, barely three years after Jacob Warner's release from prison, Jacob petitioned the court to receive occupational driving privileges. His request for a hardship case in front of the Honorable James Flannery was denied. During this hearing Jacob Warner did apologize to Sarah's parents for causing the death of their daughter. The Reedy family had fought any reinstatement of Mr. Warner's driving privileges until the completion of his plea bargained sentence in January of 2010.

From Father's Day, 1999

3 days before the crash

This story is from Sarah's page click here to visit

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