Judge Finds Young Guilty Of Lesser Charge In Fatal Wreck On Highway 58

  • Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Judge Tom Greenholtz on Wednesday found William Henry Young guilty of a lesser charge in a fatal traffic accident on Highway 58.

The judge, who heard the case without a jury, ruled the 56-year-old former TVA employee guilty of criminally negligent homicide. He had been charged with vehicular homicide.

Sentencing will be in December.

Judge Greenholtz dismissed charges of reckless endangerment and reckless aggravated assault.

The judge said there was conflicting evidence before him.

He noted that a recording device on the defendant's new truck clocked him driving at almost 90 miles per hour at the time of a wreck that killed substitute teacher Donna Marie Giarrusso.

However, he said other drivers at the scene spoke about the Harrison Elementary School teacher pulling out from Champion Road against downhill traffic and did not refer to a speeding truck.

Attorney Lee Davis, who represented Young along with Janie Varnell, said, "Judge Greenholtz acquitted William Young of vehicular homicide and two other serious felony counts yesterday at trial. Mr. Young has spent the last 2 1/2 years reliving this incident where a Toyota Camry, apparently rolling through a stop sign, pulled out in front of his truck.

"As testified to by five separate witness at trial, there is nothing Mr. Young could have done to avoid this tragic accident. Mr. Young, although severely injured himself, immediately sought to assist the driver and passenger in the Toyota. Mr. Young is respectful of and appreciates the verdict of the court, but his immediate thoughts and prayers are for the Giarrusso family and the tragic loss to their family."

Joe Warren of the Chattanooga Police Department said when he got to the scene on March 20, 2015, he could immediately tell that speed was involved. He said the distance that the two vehicles had traveled after the collision and the amount of damage "were almost NASCAR-type stuff."

After the new Dodge Ram driven by Young struck the Toyota Camry driven by 54-year-old Donna Marie Giarrusso in the southbound lane, both vehicles wound up in the northbound lanes. The Camry eventually hit a concrete pole, knocking it loose.

"This was not a survivable wreck," Investigator Warren said.

He said information from recording equipment in the Dodge Ram showed the truck going 74 miles per hour several seconds before the collision. Traveling downhill, it was up to 89 miles per hour at the time of the crash. The gas pedal was being floored, the investigator said.

Young said he believed he was going about 50 miles per hour prior to the accident. The former Sequoyah Nuclear Plant maintenance employee said when he saw the Camry pull out he first thought it was going to go south. But he said it "just kept coming" across Highway 58 and he was not able to stop. He said he tried to veer to the left.

He said, "There was no way I could avoid it. It was like a deer coming out in front of you."

Young said he had some injuries, but he got out of his truck and went over to the demolished Camry. He said he saw a child in the car and helped get the child out.

Several witnesses told of seeing the vehicle pull out onto the highway and said that led to the crash.

One woman said, "I saw the Camry pull out in front of oncoming traffic and I was screaming in my car - 'What are you doing?'"

She said the Camry "did not yield. There was nothing anybody could have done."

Heidi Andrus told of seeing the Camry pull out from Champion Road. She said, "I immediately slammed on my brakes. I had no idea how it (wreck) was going to be avoided."
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