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Dad charged in 9-year-old girl's sledding death
After drinking, man pulled daughter in an inner tube behind pickup truck
VANCOUVER, Wash. - Authorities charged a man Friday with vehicular
homicide in a sledding accident that killed his 9-year-old daughter last
winter.
Peter Gecho was pulling the girl, Madison, in an inner tube behind his
pickup truck when the tube slammed into a low brick wall Jan. 16,
according to Clark County Superior Court documents. Witnesses told police
Gecho had been drinking and that the girl was not wearing a helmet,
prosecutors contend.
The inner tube was attached to the truck by a rope as Gecho drove along
snowy country roads to Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Senior Deputy
Prosecutor James David wrote in a probable cause affidavit. Several other
people were in the bed of the truck.
On the school grounds, Gecho revved the engine and began spinning
"doughnuts" as the tube sailed behind. The tube slammed against a low
brick wall at an estimated 20 mph, killing the girl. An 18-year-old man
also riding in the tube soared over the wall and suffered only bruises.
Gecho's lawyer, Thomas Phelan, called the charge "a travesty." He said
his client is innocent and would never have deliberately harmed Madison.
"This was nothing but a tragic accident," he said. "His life has been, as
one might expect, incredibly empty since his daughter died. This simply
adds to the emptiness."
After drinking, man pulled daughter in an inner tube behind pickup truck
VANCOUVER, Wash. - Authorities charged a man Friday with vehicular
homicide in a sledding accident that killed his 9-year-old daughter last
winter.
Peter Gecho was pulling the girl, Madison, in an inner tube behind his
pickup truck when the tube slammed into a low brick wall Jan. 16,
according to Clark County Superior Court documents. Witnesses told police
Gecho had been drinking and that the girl was not wearing a helmet,
prosecutors contend.
The inner tube was attached to the truck by a rope as Gecho drove along
snowy country roads to Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Senior Deputy
Prosecutor James David wrote in a probable cause affidavit. Several other
people were in the bed of the truck.
On the school grounds, Gecho revved the engine and began spinning
"doughnuts" as the tube sailed behind. The tube slammed against a low
brick wall at an estimated 20 mph, killing the girl. An 18-year-old man
also riding in the tube soared over the wall and suffered only bruises.
Gecho's lawyer, Thomas Phelan, called the charge "a travesty." He said
his client is innocent and would never have deliberately harmed Madison.
"This was nothing but a tragic accident," he said. "His life has been, as
one might expect, incredibly empty since his daughter died. This simply
adds to the emptiness."
Even if the guy wasn't drunk, it's pretty clear that dragging your nine-year-old daughter on a sled attached to your pick-up truck while you're drunk is an incredibly dumb idea. He obviously wouldn't have intended to kill his daughter though, but isn't being reckless enough intent in the eye of the law?
