A Montgomery man who drove around an ambulance at an accident scene and ran over an already injured man will not spend time in a state prison but was sentenced Monday to work release, probation and community service.
Ronald Friant, 42, of the 0-99 block of Marnel Road was convicted in May of reckless driving and aggravated leaving the scene of an accident. He faced up to 3 years in prison.
Kendall County Judge James Wilson sentenced Friant to 6 months in Kendall County Jail on work release, meaning he will be allowed to work but must spend every night and weekend in jail.
In addition, Friant is on 30 months of probation and must complete 300 hours of community service with the Oswego Fire Protection District and the Kendall County coroner’s office. He also must pay $3,000 in fines and costs.
The sentence was designed to show Friant the seriousness of his actions, Wilson said. “I still have some questions in my mind as to how Mr. Friant was unable to see the many large red vehicles with flashing lights, such as the firetrucks and ambulances,” he said.
Assistant State’s Atty. Eric Weis, who had sought a prison term for Friant, expressed disappointment with the sentence.
“Perhaps the public service will help him see how people are threatened by his actions,” said Weis, a volunteer firefighter. “He was very close to having a reckless homicide charge rather than reckless driving.”
Defense attorney Daniel Kramer had sought leniency for his client. “Everything in his background shows he’s a good citizen who had an accident,” Kramer said last month during an earlier portion of the sentencing hearing.
Shortly after noon on Dec. 26, at Mill and Orchard Roads in Oswego, Jason Simpson, 20, and Kelly O’Connell, 18, were killed when Simpson ran a stop sign and struck a truck.
The truck driver, who was injured, was run over by Friant, who had driven onto the shoulder of the road.
Friant narrowly avoided hitting a good Samaritan who stopped to help the truck driver and paramedics who had just arrived at the scene, prosecutors said.
During his community service, Friant likely will work with some of those same paramedics, Weis said. “It will be a long 300 hours.”
Friant said he swerved to avoid hitting an ambulance that had pulled out in front of him.
