Since her son, 23-year-old Cody Meyer, was killed while working as a flagger on Cedar Grove Road Southeast near Issaquah, Tina Meyer has been very clear about her opinion: the man who caused that accident should not be sent to prison because he’s a father of a young son.
At Andrew Richwine’s sentencing hearing in a Seattle courtroom Friday, Meyer told the judge “with as much as it’s destroyed my family, I can’t destroy that little boy’s life.”
The 34-year-old Richwine pleaded guilty to felony vehicular homicide last month, for slamming his Jeep into Meyer in December of 2015.
Richwine was not drunk, talking or texting on his phone at the time. He had just glanced at it and drove his car into the flagger at 40-miles an hour. Meyer died five months later.
On Friday, Richwine apologized. “I’m very sorry for all the pain and sorrow I have caused,” he told the court.
His defense attorney, Todd Maybrown, and Sr. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Amy Freedheim had agreed to a sentence that included more than 200 hours of community service so Richwine could warn others about the dangers of distracted driving.
However, King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Moore felt the loss of life deserved community service and six months of work release, plus restitution. “As a parent of three boys, I cannot imagine anything worse than losing my son,” Moore said through tears while delivering her emotional decision that exceeded the recommendation of the state.
Richwine will also lose his driver’s license for two years. When he is able to drive again, the stay-at-home father of a boy and a newborn baby girl will have to keep all electronics inside his vehicle locked up.
After Moore delivered her sentence, Tina Meyer embraced Richwine’s wife inside the courtroom and gave her a small, brown stuffed bear.
"Cody was my baby bear, so I brought a small teddy bear that belonged to my son, to give to (Richwine's) son."
Maybrown, Freedheim and the Meyer family hope this case brings the dangers of distracted driving widespread attention, especially the dangers of cellphone use while driving.
Lawmakers in Olympia are currently deciding the fate of HB 1371, which would make holding or glancing at a cellphone reason enough for a law-enforcement officer to pull a driver over.
Amy Freedheim told KIRO 7 that such a law could have saved Cody Meyer’s life.
For more info on HB 1371: http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1371&Year=2017