(Parma) - A 74-year-old woman who hit the gas instead of the brake, running her car into a crowd at an outdoor concert, killing two people and injuring six others, won't go to jail, and will lose her drivers license only five years.
Donna Chidsey, a retired teacher from Parma Heights, was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, but pleaded guilty to one.
Parma Municipal Court Judge Timothy Gilligan heard tearful statements from relatives of the two women who were killed. He then sentenced Chidsey to 180 days suspended, fined her $1,000, put her on probation for three years, and suspended her license for five years.
Judge Gilligan said afterward he would have taken away Chidsey's license for life, but state sentencing procedures said five years was the maximum he could suspend her license.
Parma Heights police say Chidsey's car plowed across the dance floor at the concert, held near Greenbrier Commons in that city. At the time, she was backing out of a parking spot.
68-year-old Nancy Gielas of Hinckley and 61-year-old Kathleen McDonald of Parma were both killed.
In 1974, while Chidsey was a teacher and was driving a student while on a field trip, that student died in a crash. Judge Gilligan noted that the police report says the accident was due to Chidsey's car having been recalled because of a faulty steering wheel.
(Photo by Carmen Angelo/WTAM 1100)