RAVENNA: Ed Slattery spoke out, wanting to send a message not only to the trucker who killed his wife and maimed his teenage son, but also to the entire trucking industry.
The Maryland widower hopes his message came with an exclamation point as a remorseful Douglas Bouch received a five-year prison sentence Thursday. The punishment was far more severe than Slattery expected.
The two men had never seen each other until Bouch’s final appearance in Portage County Common Pleas Court, where he previously pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated vehicular assault and aggravated vehicular homicide.
Bouch, 49, entered the plea with no deal in place. His company’s insurance company paid a $41 million settlement with no lawsuit ever being filed. He pledged to never drive a semi again.
The trucker, from Greenville, Pa., offered no defense to the charges. He admitted at the crash scene to falling asleep. He gave a tearful apology in court.
“I can’t comprehend what the family is going through and I don’t have the words to describe how sorrowful I am,” Bouch said.
Dr. Susan Slattery, a math professor at Stevenson University in Maryland, was killed Aug. 16, 2010, when Bouch fell asleep while driving his truck on the Ohio Turnpike in Portage County. The Slatterys’ sons, Matthew, then 12, and Peter, then 16, were critically injured.
While Peter Slattery has recovered from a fractured pelvis, Matthew Slattery had life-altering injuries. He has difficulty communicating and can walk just 100 feet and uses a walker.
It was Bouch’s admission of falling asleep that likely fueled the felony charges, his attorney, Errol Can, said in court. Ed Slattery acknowledged the crash was an accident, but it was an avoidable tragedy, he told Judge John Enlow before sentencing.
“I do not seek revenge from Mr. Bouch,” Slattery told a packed courtroom. “I do, however, seek justice and to send a message to truckers that there are consequences to making bad decisions.”
Slattery’s points were directed just as fiercely at the trucking industry as at the trucker himself. He pointed out Bouch’s medical history — sleep apnea and migraines — as well as his sketchy record of handling the triple-trailered rigs still allowed in Ohio.
Bouch, hauling three box trailers, rear-ended Susan Slattery’s car, triggering an eight-vehicle crash in Shalersville Township. The 47-year-old mother, who was driving her children home to suburban Baltimore, died at the scene.
Her sons were taken to Akron Children’s Hospital. Matthew Slattery has required months of physical therapy; Peter Slattery suffered a fractured eye socket and pelvis.
Last year, Ed Slattery donated $100,000 to the hospital to create the Peter and Matthew Slattery Fund to aid children whose families can’t afford to continue physical therapy.
Slattery, 55, said Bouch needed prison to serve as an example to the trucking industry. Backing up his point, the retired economist cited statistics showing commercial trucks account for more than 3,500 deaths every year in the United States.
“That’s 9/11 every year,” he said.
Outside court, Slattery said he had expected Bouch to be given probation. At best, he hoped it would be one or two years in prison. He said he would support an earlier release date. He also hopes that one day they can meet again and perhaps work together on a public awareness campaign on trucker safety.
Slattery volunteers with the Truck Safety Coalition in an effort to make the roads safer. He plans to reach out to Bouch during his prison stint.
“I think it would help him to heal, and I think it will help me heal,” he said.
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
