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Grandfather reacts after driver fined in 2 year...
James Rose says Kaylie Silby shouldn't go to jail but should not have a license. Silby will keep her license and pay a $500 fine in connection to the death of Omarion Rose.
Omarion Rose, 2, died Jan. 14.
AMHERST — A Madison Heights teen was found guilty of improper driving Tuesday in connection with the Jan. 14 death of a toddler. She was fined $500 and will not go to jail.
According to testimony in the trial, Kaylie Silby was driving on Seminole Drive that morning near Omarion Rose’s Branch Drive home when her cell phone rang.
“I had to take my eyes off the road … I felt a bump,” Silby testified. “I did not think to think it was a two-year-old child.”
The 18-year-old testified in Amherst County General District during a tense and emotional trial that lasted more than three hours before a packed courtroom. She cried throughout the proceedings; so did Omarion Rose’s mother.
Silby, 18, said she had a good view of the road before her phone rang, and it was clear when she looked over to grab the phone. After feeling the car hit something, she said, she checked her mirrors and saw nothing.
Eva Martin testified she saw the boy on the side of the road around 8:30 that morning. When she stopped, her husband, who first thought it was a doll, told her to call 911.
The child later died at UVa medical center.
It wasn’t until Silby saw a commercial for the evening news later that day about the investigation that she realized she could have hit the child, Virginia State Police Special Agent Michael Bryant testified.
Bryant interviewed Silby after her mother’s boyfriend called police to tell them Silby was worried she might have hit the boy.
“She told me she thought it was a pothole, at worst a dog,” Bryant testified.
He also testified her cell phone records backed up her story and that her boyfriend called her around 8:23 a.m., around the time police believe the toddler was hit.
Dr. William Gormley, assistant chief medical examiner for the state forensics office in Richmond, testified an autopsy showed the boy likely was struck once and not hit by more than one car.
Investigators also were able to match pieces of plastic found near the boy to Silby’s turn signal.
Judge Edwin Burnette found Silby not guilty of reckless driving, the original charge.
Burnette said he believed Silby did strike Rose, causing his death. But reaching for a cell phone, he said, “is not illegal, but it may be imprudent.”
The judge acknowledged that his ruling and the subsequent maximum penalty, a $500 fine, may seem inadequate to many, but said he hoped it would make others think twice before taking their eyes off the road to answer a phone.
Silby did not exit the courtroom or the courthouse through a public entrance and was not available for comment.
“It was a bad situation,” her mother, Belinda Silby, said before leaving.
Katrina Jennings, Rose’s godmother, said she was angry after the trial because Silby did not apologize or say she was sorry.
Jennings said the family was happy with the job Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Maddox did in presenting the case.
“A life is gone, though,” she said. “You can never bring it back.”
Prosecutors earlier said reckless driving, a misdemeanor carrying as much as a year in jail, was the strongest charge they could bring against Silby because there was not enough evidence to prove she knew she had hit the boy.
Maddox said the family was obviously upset by the outcome.
“This is just a tragic case all the way around,” she said. “We respect the judge’s decision.”
While state police investigators and her staff put in many hours preparing for the trial, she said she always knew the improper driving ruling was a possibility.
“It came down to driver inattention,” she said. “The judge equated that with reaching for a cup of coffee and reaching for a cell phone is not illegal.”
Legislative proposals concerning the use of cell phones were hot issues in the 2007 General Assembly. Ultimately, though, the bill did not pass.
Maddox said she will do her part to use Rose’s death as a case study for why such legislation is needed.
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Reader Reactions
If you are in a moving vehicle, and you hit anything other that a tree branch, youre going to do damage to the car and the nonmoving object. Even at only 25mph. Dog, pole, mailbox, or toddler, damage will be done. It’s simple laws of physics. These arguments about how hard she hit the child are ridiculous. Of course she hit him hard. She was in a daggon car.
But again, thats not the pressing issue. The biggest one is who is responsible for the child being out in the street to begin with. THEY should be the ones the family sues, not the Silbys. But that’s just silly. Why would you sue family when you can extort money from perfect strangers? Miss Silby is paying for her mistake. She should not have to pay for THEIRS.
I have been back and forth in my mind regarding this tragic turn of events. On the one hand I wonder how on earth the driver could not have seen SOMETHING in/near the road before she answered her phone. Was this child on a blind curve or just over a hilltop? When I am driving, I am aware of what lies ahead, and I would HOPE that I could see something that could possibly be in my path. Even when I see a dog along the side of the road I slow down so that I can react if it suddenly decides to cross the road. But enough of my personal driving habits…perhaps Ms. Silby does not have enough experience behind the wheel to be that aware of her surroundings while driving. Secondly, I was stunned to learn that this child had “escaped” out of his home and nobody noticed. I have a child, and I can tell you that he never even tried to get out of the house. Furthermore, I honestly do not believe that a toddler has the mental capacity or physical dexterity to actually turn a door knob and pull a door open without SOMEONE hearing it. My ears have been on “high alert” ever since my child was born. He doesn’t cough at night without it waking me from a deep sleep. I just don’t understand HOW they could not have known the child was gone. And as early stories reported, he was trying to follow his dad to the car, I just don’t see the plausibility that the dad didn’t see him come out the door before he pulled out of the parking lot.
IMHO, there are many people to blame here. Ms. Silby for not paying attention to the road and for failing to stop after she thought she may have hit something (although I have serious doubts that Omarion would have survived even if she had stopped immediately). Omarion’s parents/caretakers for not keeping a close eye on the child.
Simply put, this IS a tragic accident. We can all say that we would have done differently had we been put in the same situation, but the fact of the matter is that we can’t. Let those that need to be judged by a higher authority face that judging when their time comes.
“not a single one of you or the news media want to asked the hard hitting question of where were the parents, how could that kid be outside for atleast and hour and they not know, they have no idea where the kid is until they are WOKEN up by the police in the early afternoon, that is complete negligence of the child.“
Well put. There is a reason people tell their kids not to go out in the street, or to look both ways, or to hold their hands. the fact is that 2-year olds do stupid things because they don’t know better, and it is the parent’s responsibility to keep them from harming themselves.
Why was a 2-year old outside by themselves at 8am? While this is certainly a sad situation, it is the job of the parents to keep their children safe, and out of harm’s way (which i would think certainly includes roads with cars driving on them). You can’t take away the parents’ responsibility for their children’s safety by trying to pin it on someone else who happens to be involved in a tragic situation.
Boy, that damalama is smart…NOT!!
Yes both sides are at fault. Yes everyone has taken there eyes off the road at some point. The trouble here is she hit something hard enough to break her light and she had to wait until a commercial came on to realize she might have hit something important. Come on now. Stop and look. I don’t care if it is a pot hole or a dog. She knew she hit something so hard that it did damage to her car.
I think everybody needs to take a closer look at what they do and stop pointing fingers at each other. And what does the father being in jail have to do with anything. Btw…he is NOT in jail. Get your fact straight.
All the family wanted in the end was an apology and she couldn’t even give them that. Now that is a shame. She is the one that has to live with this the rest of her life.
$500 fine. I agree with the other person…if she had hit a dog, she would have gone to jail. What a sad world we live in.
God Bless the Rose family and Rest In Peace Omarion.
A small price to pay for leaving the scene of an accident that took a life.
What a shame! A small child lost his life due to a cell phone call.
Teenage drivers get more punishment for getting a speeding ticket than the price of the loss of his life.
What happened to community service?
$500.00 fine, how can we believe in the judicial system now?
Again, if she had hit a dog maybe she would have gone to jail. Mike Vick abused them and see what happened!!!
the ignorance of the general public is astounding. it’s amazing how everyone is this fourm has never looked at a road sign, looked down to change a radio station, or looked at the phone when it was ringing to see who called. of course no one in this forum has done that, they are all perfect drivers that haven’t even speed, rolled through a stop sign, nothing. all of you are ridiculous, are you the police did you investigate the crash scene, did you see the car to see how much damage there was to it to determine if there was a possiblity that it could have been known if she hit something. no you weren’t and no you didn’t you are just jumping to ignorant stupid conclusions that her car was caved in and the bumper was left at the scene, and she limped her car back home to get away. not a single one of you or the news media want to asked the hard hitting question of where were the parents, how could that kid be outside for atleast and hour and they not know, they have no idea where the kid is until they are WOKEN up by the police in the early afternoon, that is complete negligence of the child. also they want to point out the negatives with the silby family, how about the fact that the father is in prison of the rose’s, this rose family isn’t the all caring sweet american family that the news media is protraying them to be. your right the race card is being played her as in the news media being to afraid to actually go after the other party at fault in this child’s death and that is the rose family. however i do give news and advance credit for a detailed report of the trail, unlike wset’s report which completely painted silby as a monster.
Amom, you wrote the most sensible post of any that I have read here.
I’m frustrated by the “either-or” responses that I’m seeing to this article. The fact is that both sides were to blame. There is no doubt of that. Someone should have been watching the child and the girl should have had the sense to stop if she thought she had “maybe hit a dog” and talking on a cell phone is certainly no excuse to the taking of a child’s life.
I think that the judge’s ruling was a travesty… this was a child’s life and the girl only got a slap on the wrist. A stronger message should have been given. We are responsible for our actions and our bad choices, no matter how innocent. This does not mean that I think she should have been put in prison, but the punishment sure doesn’t seem to fit the crime.
I also think that the child’s family should have born more scrutiny than they have as well. Where was his mother or other responsible family members? I haven’t seen much on this subject and am very curious.
This brings up another huge problem in our community…the lack of supervision of many of our children and the lack of parental involvement in their lives. We have so many “throw away children” out there that it breaks my heart. I’m not saying that this child fell under this heading. I’m sure his family was shocked, horrified, and heart-broken when they found out what happened.
We need to wake up and realize that our parenting skills as a society have gone down the tubes. I see this on both sides of this case. Where was the girl’s sense of responsibility to stop and check things out? I’m glad that she came forward and did the right thing eventually, but it was too late. Maybe that little guy would have lived if he had gotten care. I don’t know. And where were the parents of this child? This didn’t have to happen.
My prayers go out to all involved. Hindsite is so very painful in this case and I’m sure lives have been changed forever because of this sad incident.
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