Strange....Parents don't want killer driver prosecuted

[PeteSC]

Family doesn't blame driver
Teen died in car-cycle crash

By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer


Terry Feazel, (left) father of Ben Feazel stands at the intersection in Liberty Township Tuesday where his son died Sunday after his motorcycle was hit by a car.
The Enquirer/Glenn Hartong
Zoom  
FEAZEL SERVICES
Services will be noon Thursday at Tri-County Baptist Church, 8195 Beckett Road, West Chester Township. Friends may call two hours before services. Hodapp Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
 
LIBERTY TWP. - The family of 18-year-old Ben Feazel is suffering over his death, but they don't want to punish a motorist who police say ran a stop sign Sunday and caused the fatal crash.

"The family says that they just would hate to see anybody else suffer because of this tragedy," said Brian Peters, a North College Hill man who works in the Feazels' family business and attends church with them. "The lady has gone through enough just by the sheer fact of what happened."

Many of Ben Feazel's schoolmates were mourning and absent from Lakota East High on Tuesday, a day after his death, school officials said. The crash also ignited debate about the safety of the intersection where Feazel was fatally injured, and underscored the perils that motorcyclists face from other drivers.

"Being a motorcycle rider myself, I know that people just don't pay attention to motorcyclists, and when a crash happens, it's usually not the motorcycle rider's fault," said Sheriff Richard K. Jones, a Harley-Davidson devotee. "Sometimes the sun is in their eyes and they don't see you, or they're on the cell phone and not paying attention ...So the only thing you can do is, when you ride, ride very, very cautiously."

Police say Bonnie Mills, 36, of Liberty Township, might have been blinded by sun glare when she was driving west on Millikin Road and ran through a stop sign on Sunday, just before sundown. Feazel was heading north on his Suzuki 1000 motorcycle on Yankee Road.

Tire marks show he locked up his brakes and swerved to avoid Mills' Honda Civic, but collided with the rear driver's side door, said Deputy Dan Bower.

Feazel's father, Terry, and grandfather, Dick, stood quietly staring at the crash scene Tuesday afternoon. "I just wanted to come and see where my son died," Feazel's father said, biting his lip.

Bower said Terry Feazel had discouraged police from filing charges against Mills. "He said charging her would not bring his son back," Bower said. "I told him his wishes would be included in the decision, but that would not be the sole factor."

Mills, who has not been charged, declined to comment. Her lawyer, Alan Fischoff of Sharonville said, "It's a shame that it happened - and I feel sorry for the family of the deceased...Obviously, it's had a pretty bad effect on my client."

The Butler County Engineer's Office will study data about the crash and determine whether any more safety devices should be added to the intersection, said Chris Petrocy, engineer's spokesman.

He said the intersection already features dual, oversized stop signs on both sides of Millikin, along with signs warning that cross traffic does not stop and white "stop lines" marking the pavement.

Petrocy says there have been 16 crashes at Yankee-Millikin in the past three years, half of them resulting in injury, half property damage only and none fatal - until Sunday.

Several people who live near the two-way-stop intersection advocate a four-way stop.

"I personally would like to see a four-way stop and a blinking light," said Steve Smith, who lives two houses from the intersection. "I have seen so many accidents, it's sickening. We know that there has to be something done."

But Petrocy said traffic engineering studies are needed because, in some situations, adding a four-way stop or flashing lights "might create more accidents or a different kind of accident."

Gestures of sympathy from strangers and friends alike have touched the family, Peters said. "We've had people that don't even know the Feazels stopping by and dropping stuff off cards, food and flowers."