A Mountain Home woman charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of then 27-year-old William “Billy” Herrmann in mid-October last year appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday.Sixty-two-year-old Sarah Alsup pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was put on probation for five years.
Members of the victim’s family gave statements to the court. His mother described him as “the brightest light in our world.” She said Herrmann, who suffered from epilepsy, “was a special child who graduated from high school and was holding down a steady job. He was more than a name in a police report.”
The victim’s mother said Alsup did not stop when the accident first happened and then drove by the scene a second time and chose not to stop again. She described Alsup’s actions as “calculated decisions” which left her son “to die alone.”
According to police reports, Herrmann was attempting to cross U.S. Highway 62B at a point between Wendy’s and City Nails just after 9 p.m. October 18 last year when he was struck by Alsup’s 2000 GMC Sierra pickup truck and thrown into the east end of the parking lot of City Nails.
Despite efforts to resuscitate him, Herrmann was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim was employed at Wendy’s and was headed home when he was hit.
Alsup did not stop, according to police reports. She continued traveling east until she pulled into the parking lot of White Oak Station at 1124 Highway 62B East. She left that business and drove to a Chinese restaurant in the East Center shopping complex, a short distance from the convenience store.
When she left the restaurant parking lot she turned to the west and is reported to have driven past the accident site where officers and first responders were actively working the incident and went to her residence.
The victim’s stepfather said he would never forgive Alsup for driving by the scene of the accident a second time. He turned toward Alsup seated at the defense table and said, “accidents happen, we all know that, but when you came back by that area you should have stopped.” When she gave her statement, the victim’s mother said to Alsup, “you abandoned him twice and that type of cruelty cannot be described.”
The family asked the court to give Alsup the maximum sentence possible.
Alsup turned toward the family members in the courtroom and said she was “truly sorry” for what happened.
Circuit Judge Andrew Bailey said not everyone would agree with the sentence but that prosecutors had to follow the law in recommending punishment. He said Alsup “will be a felon for the rest of her life.”
Witnesses provided a partial license number for the suspect vehicle and officers were able to contact Alsup several hours after the incident.
According to the police report, a witness saw Alsup’s truck as it passed by the site heading west after visiting the convenience store and the Chinese restaurant. The witness told officers it was the vehicle that had struck the victim.
Alsup is reported to have said she believed a deer had “darted” in front of her vehicle.
Under Arkansas law, a pedestrian is supposed to cross a highway at a designated crosswalk. If the pedestrian is crossing at a point other than a designated crosswalk, the pedestrian must yield to oncoming traffic.
Court documents do not indicate if Alsup made any effort to check her vehicle for damages due to what she said she believed was a collision with a deer in the vicinity of Wendy’s and City Nail.
One other major question is why when driving past the accident site and seeing police and first responders on scene did Alsup not stop to see what had happened since it was at the same spot where she said the deer had been hit?
A man also appeared in court Monday accused of crashing into a vehicle driven by Alsup’s 19-year-old granddaughter resulting in her death.
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