Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ohio authorities said Wednesday they were awaiting results of drug and alcohol tests performed on Matthew A. Schultz, 27, before deciding what additional charges, if any, are warranted.
Schultz, of Circleville, Ohio, has one previous alcohol-related driving conviction. He told police he fell asleep at the wheel, but admitted he drank 16 beers only hours before the crash, a spokesman for the Pickaway County Sheriff's Department said.
Schultz was charged with driving under the influence, driving left of center and reckless driving after his pickup truck slammed head-on into Morgan's sports coupe.
The accident occurred on a rural two-lane highway just west of Circleville, a farming community about 30 miles south of Columbus.
Morgan, 54, an agent with Boone & Co. Realtors, was returning to Virginia with her fiance, William C. Kidd Jr., after visiting his sister in Ohio. She was driving east on state Route 56, and Schultz was heading west.
William E. Blackburn, who was driving behind Morgan's car, said Schultz's truck veered left suddenly and hit the driver's side of the car.
"It just whipped out [into the eastbound lane]. Next thing I knew, they hit head-on," Blackburn said.
The truck flipped over in the air above Morgan's car, landed on its roof and skidded 85 feet along the roadway before righting itself, according to police. Morgan's car came to rest in a cornfield.
Blackburn said he went to the car, where Kidd was shouting for help, then to the truck, where Schultz said he was all right.
Morgan was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Kidd, also of Bedford County, was treated and released at Berger Hospital in Circleville, as was Schultz.
The construction worker's Ohio driving record shows a litany of convictions dating from 1985 for speeding, running a red light, failing to control his vehicle and driving without a license. He was convicted of driving under the influence in 1987, for which he received a three-month license suspension.
Schultz's license was suspended again for three years in 1989 following a speeding conviction. Since it was reinstated in 1992, he's been convicted of speeding twice, according to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Results of the blood test are expected by Friday, a sheriff's spokesman said.
A native of Germany, Morgan was a popular, hard-working agent who had lived in the Roanoke area for more than 20 years, said Bill Meyer, a sales manager for Boone. She regularly sold more than $2 million per year in residential real estate.
Kidd was also an agent with Boone. The couple had planned to travel to Germany and be married in September, Meyer said.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB