Astonishingly short sentence handed to driver who killed beloved straight-A student, 16

A distracted operator who killed a beloved straight-A pupil successful 2023 has yet received his punishment.

Craig Potts, 37, was sentenced to 30 days successful jailhouse aft helium caused a clang that killed Cassandra 'Cassy' Linder, 16, portion helium was driving a tractor-trailer, County Attorney Susan Richmeier announced successful a property release. 

Potts was hauling a beverage trailer connected a road successful Garden City, Kansas, which is astir 3 hours West of Wichita, erstwhile helium veered to the near and collided with Linder's Fiat connected March 13. 

Potts told constabulary that helium was connected his telephone and reached down for a vessel of water. 

Cassy survived the archetypal interaction but some her legs and her arms were breached and severely injured. 

Once exigency responders were capable to region her from the wreckage she was transported to a adjacent infirmary wherever she was pronounced dead. 

'We each could not judge our sunflower had been plucked from this Earth,' Cassy's dad, Todd Linder, wrote successful an op-ed for Newsweek. 

'Our family's worst nightmare had conscionable happened. Our beingness condemnation had conscionable started.'

'That was the time our family's vibrant sunflower was picked from this Earth and sent connected a voyage to the afterlife, not by her choice, but by the selfish prime of different driver, who chose to thrust distracted,' helium continued. 

Potts was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, nonaccomplishment to thrust connected the close broadside of the road, and 2 counts of failing to obey centrifugal information regulations for not wearing a seatbelt and driving fatigued. 

Potts pled blameworthy to vehicular manslaughter alternatively of involuntary manslaughter astatine a plea hearing. Vehicular manslaughter is simply a misdemeanor crime. 

Potts volition besides service probation for 18 months and tin service his condemnation successful two, 15 time periods wrong 3 months. He besides had to surrender his commercialized driver's license. 

'Tremendous clip and effort are enactment distant connected behalf of victims and achieving justness according to the instrumentality arsenic written wrong the State of Kansas,' Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier said.

'This bureau extends their heartfelt sympathy to the Linder family, friends and loved ones and we admit the toll this lawsuit has had connected our community.'

In effect to the property merchandise posted connected Facebook, Cassy's dada commented, 'Our household understands that determination tin ne'er beryllium existent justice. Cassy ne'er had the accidental to a plea deal. We emotion and miss you Cassy Kay.'

Linder told section NBC affiliate, KSN-TV, that the household disagreed with the plea woody and wanted the lawsuit to spell to trial. 

'But we're besides not attorneys. We're conscionable regular Kansans who had to endure this symptom due to the fact that of idiosyncratic else's actions,' helium added. 

Linder said that not lone was his girl a straight-A student, but she loved hanging retired with her friends, and she was a manager for way and basketball. 

Her dada besides said that Cassy wanted to travel successful her older sister's footsteps and spell to Kansas University. 

'A prom we volition ne'er see, a graduation we volition ne'er see, a vocation prime we volition ne'er see, a assemblage graduation we volition ne'er see, a wedding we volition ne'er see, a grandchild we volition ne'er see. The "Never See's" tin spell connected everlastingly successful our family's mind,' Linder wrote successful Newsweek. 

Cassy's household has vowed since her decease to rise consciousness for distracted driving and forestall others from dying the mode that she did. 

The Linders person go campaigners, giving retired level mats with sunflowers and the connection 'Don't Drive Distracted' inscribed successful representation of Cassy. 

'If we tin prevention 1 life, past it's each worthy it. We don't privation 1 idiosyncratic anyplace to spell done what we person had to spell through,' Linder told KSN. 

He is besides advocating for legislative alteration to alteration vehicular homicide from a misdemeanor complaint to a felony. 

'It's up to our legislators successful the House and Senate who we ballot for to alteration the laws, and we person to beryllium that dependable for Cassy to effort to alteration the laws successful Kansas erstwhile it involves commercialized centrifugal vehicles and vehicular homicide,' Linder said.