Marquise Byrd died on December 29 three days after a sandbag hit a car he was travelling in. Photo / Facebook
Marquise Byrd died on December 29 three days after a sandbag hit a car he was travelling in. Photo / Facebook
Four Ohio teenagers who pleaded guilty to dropping a sandbag from a highway overpass last December killing a 22-year-old father were given suspended sentences, a judge announced.
The boys, aged 13 and 14, were instead ordered to a youth centre for treatment.
Marquise Byrd died in a Toledo hospital onDecember 29, three days after four teenage boys tossed a heavy sandbag onto Interstate 75 striking the car Byrd was travelling in.
The young father to a 2-year-old son was sitting in the passenger's seat when the sandbag crashed through the windshield hitting him in the head. Byrd was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck.
The teen who dropped the sandbag pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to the Department of Youth Services until he turns 21. The other three teens pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to three years at the the same facility, ABC News reports.
Judge Denise Navarre Cubbon said that all four sentences were suspended in favour of the teens being sent to Toledo's Lucas County Youth Treatment Centre.
'It's a treatment facility, for certain services, to provide so these boys change their behaviour and can become productive members of our community,' she said.
Lillian Diallo, a lawyer for the Byrd family, called the decision outrageous. "Suspended what? If you do what? So eight months you get to go home?" she told WTVG outside the courtroom.
"This child will never be at home. His son will never see him. His mother will never be able to say: "Hey son, how are you? How's your day?" Touch his face, see his face. This is outrageous."
According to ABC News, 30 letters were written on behalf of the victim calling for a strong punishment for the teens.
According to family attorney Lillian Diallo, Marquise Byrd, the victim of the sandbag dropped from an I-75 overpass, was going to propose to his girlfriend on his 23rd birthday January 10th. She is also the mother of his 2-year-old child. @NBC24WNWOhttps://t.co/NA3Oqi18uHpic.twitter.com/34xQy2kLPe
Fox 2 Detroit 13-year-old pleads guilty to throwing I-75 sandbag killing Detroit man Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK) - On Dec. 23, police say Marquise Byrd was riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle heading south on I-75 through Toledo when… https://t.co/DGtDPLm2d2#Detroit#Michigan
One of the boys read a letter in court apologising to the Byrd family.
"I pray for him and his family every single day and night and cannot imagine what they are going through and how they feel right now," the teen said.
Diallo was still angered by the suspended sentence.
"Let me tell you something - at the age of 10 you know if you take something and put it in a moving lane of traffic, you should know what the consequence will be," she said.
"You didn't take the sandbag and throw it on the side. You took that sandbag and you threw it down there to that boy's death."
Diallo, who knew the victim, said Byrd was planning a surprise proposal to his girlfriend, the mother of his 2-year-old son.
