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Dec 4, 2008 5:52 pm US/Eastern
Family Members Of Ambulance Crash Victims Speak
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Mark Stitt is the brother of one of the victims killed in the crash.
KDKA
An ambulance racing a patient to the hospital crashed into a car killing two people, leaving two families devastated.
To make matters worse, the ambulance driver had alcohol in her system.
Today, Shanea Climo, of Evans City, the driver, cut a deal and pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and driving under the influence in the 2007 accident.
She is expected to get one to two years behind bars.
But that's not sitting will with the families of the victims.
Phillip Bacon and Douglas Stitt died in the crash on Route 19.
"I don't have any regrets for Shanea Climo," says Deborah Bacon, the victim's mother. "I feel bad for her because I know what she has to go through, but I also know there's a God and he's a forgiving God."
In a plea agreement today, Climo admitted she had been drinking earlier in the day – well before the accident. She acknowledged she was driving between 64 and 88 miles per hour. Her emergency lights were on, but the siren didn't go on until 2.25 seconds before the crash.
The agreement is for Climo to serve 11 ½ to 23 months in the Allegheny County jail.
"We would have like to have seen her go for a longer time, but she's going to have to deal with it herself," Mark Stitt, the victim's brother said.
"I don't think some of the rules are right, but it's not my place to call it," Bacon said. "I would have like to see her spend more time, I'm not going to deny that, but I also , but I understand that she could have had no time."
Climo will have to return to court at a later date for formal sentencing.
The Bacon and Stitt families are still trying to come to terms with everything that happened that fateful September Day.
"He was just like a hero to me I get choked up just thinking about it," Stitt said.
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