Truck driver reaches plea agreement in 2024 fatal crash
NEW PHILADELPHIA – A truck driver initially charged with aggravated vehicular homicide in a fatal 2024 crash on Interstate-77 in Bolvar has pleaded no contest to lesser charges.
Antonio Wyley, 60, of Cleveland on Monday reached a plea agreement with prosecutors that reduced the initial third-degree felony charge to a second-degree misdemeanor – vehicular manslaughter. He will be sentenced on April 20th.
The State Highway Patrol says Wyley, driving a red semi-tractor trailer, was attempting to make an illegal U-Turn through a crossover marked “emergency vehicles only” on Oct. 24, 2024. An SUV driven by Dennis Alsept of Bolivar collided with the semi. Alsept died a week later. The semi left the scene. It took authorities nearly two months to identify the semi and its driver thanks to surveillance videos and tips from the public.
Wyley also pleaded no contest to failure to stop after an accident, reduced from a third degree to a fourth-degree felony, and tampering with evidence, unchanged from a third-degree felony. Prosecutor Lacy Felix said the amended charges reflect what the state believes it can prove in a trial.
Felix had no recommended sentence, and Judge Edward O’Farrell said the court could not promise Wyley a specific sentence.
It’s not clear which judge will sentence Wyley. O’Farrell is filling in until recently appointed Judge Ryan Styer takes the seat in March. He is likely to recuse himself from the case.
Wyley’s attorney, Patrick Williams, said his client is pleading no contest instead of guilty because of a potential civil lawsuit. He said Wyley is a good man who made a bad decision and has sobbed many times over what happened.