Archive for Monday, December 19, 2011

Ottawa mother pleads no contest to three charges related to accident leading to son’s death

December 19, 2011


A 40-year-old Ottawa woman pleaded no contest Monday in Franklin County to three misdemeanor charges after her son was struck by a vehicle in March and later died.

Tammy Lynn Payne entered the pleas Monday morning to two counts of child endangerment and one count of DUI with a prior conviction, also a misdemeanor, court administrator John Steelman said.

Prosecutors charged Payne after Ottawa police said her son Alex Bowles-Gregg died from his injuries March 12 after he was struck by the family’s vehicle outside the family’s home in the 1000 block of South Cottonwood Street.

Days after the accident, police said no one was driving the vehicle when Bowles-Gregg was injured and the family had just returned home. Officers also collected evidence to determine if alcohol was a factor in the accident.

After her plea, Judge Kevin Kimball found Payne guilty of the three counts and ordered her to undergo an alcohol and drug evaluation. Kimball scheduled her sentencing for 3:30 p.m. Feb. 22.


wordsofwisdom 2 years, 2 months ago

??? Is there something missing from this news report? The connection between the mother's charges and the incident are not clear by reading this article.


distant_voice 2 years, 2 months ago

I wholly agree. The report specifically states that no one was driving the vehicle when the boy was injured. The very next sentence states that the mother was found guilty on three misdemeanor charges and ordered to undergo alcohol and drug evaluation. How can you be charged with DUI if no one was driving? Can you be charged with DUI because you failed to turn off the ignition or set the emergency break and it rolled into her son? This story leaves a big question mark in your mind.


jafs 2 years, 2 months ago

My best thought, from the details in the article, is that she was driving drunk, came home, and didn't set the brake properly, and then the car ran over her son.

They checked her blood alcohol level, and found she was over the legal limit, and had just recently been driving.

A terrible tragedy, of course - and another reason not to drink and drive.


kochmoney 2 years, 2 months ago

This article is very confusing. I googled, and Channel 5 had much better coverage.

"Police say Payne had just arrived home from drinking and went inside when her son walked out behind the car and it rolled backwards, killing him."

There. So she got charged for DUI because she'd driven drunk to get home. She got charged with the child endangerment because she did not safely secure the car or her child after arriving home drunk. Also missing from the story right now is that he was four years old.


Centurion 2 years, 2 months ago

Thanks for adding to that Goerge. It's a lot more clearer now.


cletus26 2 years, 2 months ago

well i be... so what happened? I guess i must have missed that part and why is the mother being charged; i guess i missed that part too?


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