Driver Pleads After Teen’s Hit-And-Run Death
NBC 4
Friends and family of 14-year-old Raven McConnell, who was killed in a hit-and-run in March, filled the courtroom as one driver made her guilty plea.
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Nearly one year after the hit-and-run accident that killed a 14-year-old Grove City girl, one driver will be punished.
NBC 4’s Lauren Diedrich reported from the courtroom Thursday.
Tiffany Rhodes pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to stop after an accident last March wherein 14-year-old Raven McConnell was struck and killed.
Raven was trying to cross five lanes of traffic on Hoover Road during a rain storm when she was hit and killed by a driver who kept going, prosecutor Rob O’Brien told NBC 4. Witnesses actually followed the driver, leading police to Rhodes, O’Brien said.
Attorneys said Rhodes hit the girl, but didn’t realize what had happened. Both attorneys and prosecutors agreed that Rhodes was cooperative with police after the accident.
“There’s no evidence to show either Raven saw Tiffany or that Tiffany saw McConnell,“ said Daniel Cable, Franklin County assistant prosecutor.
Prosecutors told the judge that the teenager was wearing all black and was not using the crosswalk when she was hit.
Raven was an eighth-grader at Brookpark Middle School in Grove City, and her untimely death hit her friends and family hard.
Her classmates and principal said she brought color and compassion to the classroom every day. Grief counselors were needed at the time to help students cope and understand the loss.
“She knew almost everyone in the city,“ one of her friends said at a memorial held in Raven’s honor. “She met a lot of people, and she just talked to them like she didn’t care who they were. She just talked to them.“
Raven’s friends and family filled the courtroom as they heard Rhodes make her guilty plea.
Judge David Fais said he wanted more information before sentencing Rhodes. She faces up to six months in jail. Rhodes’ sentencing has been scheduled for February 25.
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Reader Reactions
Why no one is asking, why Raven was walking at 10pm on a cold, pouring, rainy night ??
Her father would not come pick her up thats why !! Just as MANY nights before he made her walk.
My daughters were with here that night and just like so many nights before, she called him, but he would not come to get her.
I Blame Him !!
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