Dayton Daily News

Kettering man gets 60 days in traffic death

- By Nancy Bowman

A Kettering man was sentenced Monday to 60 days in the Miami County Jail on a vehicular manslaught­er charge from the 2019 death of Ohio State Highway Patrol inspector Kimra J. Skelton, 49, on Interstate 75 at Troy.

Investigat­ors said Christophe­r G. Coorough, 45, was driving a Ford F-250 truck north on I-75 at 6:45 a.m. Nov. 27, 2019, when it went off the left side of the highway and hit Skelton’s parked vehicle, killing the Arcanum resident.

The crash report released a couple of months later stated he had amphetamin­e drugs in his system during the time of the crash.

Coorough pleaded guilty in March to misdemeano­r vehicular manslaught­er in county Common Pleas Court.

Coorough “at some point was taken to the hospital and was positive for methamphet­amines and amphetamin­es” in his system, Judge Stacy Wall said Monday in sentencing him. She noted he said he was sorry for his actions but at no time admitted he was under the influence of any drugs.

He also sent “texts to your girlfriend and said to bring synthetic urine to the hospital,” Wall said.

Coorough told Skelton’s family he was sorry as he was led from the courtroom on the way to jail.

He told Wall earlier in the sentencing that he was “truly sorry” for what happened and “was more tired than I should have been while driving … This has changed my whole life.”

Prosecutor­s requested the maximum sentence allowed for the second-degree misdemeano­r of 90 days in jail, a $750 fine and a two-year license suspension.

“Unfortunat­ely, the laws of the state of Ohio have let her down,” said Paul Watkins, first assistant county prosecutor.

Wall sentenced Coorough to 90 days in jail, suspended 30 days and ordered him to complete two years of community control with the following conditions: maintain full-time employment, conduct 40 hours of community service, complete outpatient treatment for drugs and alcohol, undergo a mental health assessment and undergo random urine screens. His license was suspended for two years with no driving privileges and six points placed on his driver’s license. He also was ordered to pay court costs.

Wall said she, too, didn’t think the maximum sentence of 90 days was “adequate.”

Skelton had been a member of the patrol since October 2005, a job her father had once held, Wall was told Monday by a family friend who said that Kimra Skelton and her loved ones were “a good family, with good morals.”

Skelton’s mother, Phyllis Miller, told Wall that her daughter “was always willing to be there for everybody else … I pray justice is done … she deserved the best.”

 ??  ?? Christophe­r G. Coorough
Christophe­r G. Coorough

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