Driver In Deadly Mid-Michigan Amish Buggy Crash Can Avoid Jail

GLADWIN, Mich. (AP) -- A man who pleaded guilty involuntary manslaughter in a mid-Michigan crash with an Amish buggy that killed a woman and hurt her three children will be monitored for a year by authorities.

The Bay City Times reports 58-year-old Kevin Toner, of Coleman, was sentenced Monday to a one-year delayed sentence. He can plead to a lesser offense if he avoids drugs and alcohol, and completes a substance abuse program.

In exchange for last month's plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a count of operating a motor vehicle under the influence causing death. Authorities say Toner was under the influence of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

Sarah Stutzman of Clare County died Dec. 14 in Gladwin County's Beaverton Township, about 125 miles northwest of Detroit. The horse-drawn buggy was rear-ended.