By Dave O’Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
Jennifer Cline woke up on July 16, 2008 to a call from her husband Gary’s boss. Gary had not made it to work that morning.
So, she went out to find him, and happened upon the fatal traffic collision at New Milford Road and S.R. 5 in Ravenna Township that had taken her husband’s life. Gary Cline, a Ravenna resident, was 44. It was his son’s birthday.
Troopers from the Ravenna Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol conducted an investigation and concluded that Gary Cline had been riding his 1981 Harley Davidson motorcycle on S.R. 5 when Catherine A. Paulus of Rootstown failed to yield to traffic and pulled out of New Milford Road in her 2001 Chevrolet Blazer directly into Gary Cline’s path.
His motorcycle struck the right front fender of Paulus’ vehicle, and he was thrown from the bike, which burst into flames. He later was pronounced dead at Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna. Paulus was not injured.
A jury found Paulus guilty of one count of vehicular homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor following a recent trial in Portage County Municipal Court Judge Barbara Watson’s courtroom in Ravenna. A sentencing date is pending a pre-sentence investigation by the Portage County Adult Probation Department.
Fatal crashes are not uncommon in Portage County, which has seen no fewer than 16 fatal wrecks each year since 1965, according to the highway patrol. Not all result in criminal charges, but Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci has a stack of such pending criminal cases on his desk.
Two cases from this year include the Sept. 5 hit-skip death of Sandra Howell, 47, on S.R. 59 in Franklin Township as she walked to retrieve her car, and a Labor Day wreck on Mogadore Road in Brimfield that killed Sarah J. Bowen, 90, of Maine.
Vigluicci declined to comment on either case, citing the open investigations. Brimfield police previously said that charges of vehicular homicide are pending against John M. Begue of Mogadore in the Bowen case, where alcohol and speed are believed to be factors.
The owner of the truck that struck Howell has come forward but declined to speak with troopers or prosecutors on the advice of his attorney, according to the highway patrol. His name has not been released.
Vigluicci said traffic fatality cases often are complicated and involve many factors that are thoroughly investigated by trained law enforcement personnel.
“If (the cases) involve alcohol, we have to get all the toxicology tests done,” Vigluicci said. “We also do accident reconstruction studies.”
Attorney Brian Coffman, who represented Paulus at trial and also represents the owner of the truck that allegedly struck and killed Sandra Howell, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Vigluicci said jurors appeared shocked by Paulus’ “total lack of concern and remorse at the scene” of the wreck.
Jennifer Cline agrees.
Subpoenaed as a witness in the case, Jennifer Cline was not allowed to sit in on all of the testimony. But what she saw of Paulus’ demeanor she remembers very well, she said.
“(Paulus) didn’t look at me. She didn’t show any emotion at all,” Jennifer Cline said. “I would have felt sorry for her if she was all shaken up, but she’s not remorseful at all, not one iota.”
Another matter that bothered Jennifer Cline was that Paulus apparently continued to ignore traffic laws even after the fatal accident and her Feb. 26 indictment by a Portage County grand jury.
Court records confirm that Paulus was ticketed by a highway patrol trooper for driving 68 mph in a 55 mph zone on March 15, just nine months after the fatal wreck. She pleaded guilty to the minor misdemeanor violation and paid a $43 fine plus $92 in court costs, according to court records.
Jennifer Cline said she plans plans to speak at Paulus’ sentencing.