A Lane County Circuit Court judge sentenced a 36-year-old man to 19 months in prison on April 14 for leaving the scene of a fatal collision with a bicyclist on Highway 99 in Eugene. The sentence was given after Kacy Daniel Foster pleaded guilty to failure to perform duties of a driver to injured persons, following the January incident that resulted in the death of Merle Sheffield, age 63.
The case has drawn attention to safety concerns for both pedestrians and drivers along Highway 99, an area where several social service providers are located. Judge Charles Zennaché told Foster before sentencing, “There’s no evidence to suggest, like in a usual hit-and-run, you’re somehow at fault.” However, Zennaché said Foster still had “an obligation” to stop and added, “The reality is, people are tired in society of people shirking their responsibilities, tired of people running away.”
During the hearing, prosecutor David Jampolsky read aloud a written statement from Sheffield’s niece and played an audio recording from John Ring, identified as Sheffield’s friend. Ring said he spoke with Sheffield the night before the crash and that Sheffield had expressed suicidal thoughts. In contrast, Staci Clegg—Sheffield’s niece—said she saw no signs her uncle was suicidal when she spoke with him days before his death. In her statement Clegg wrote: “My uncle was more than just a name on a report or a statistic on a graph. He was family.” She also wrote that “Lives on both sides of this tragedy have been permanently changed,” adding that while accountability matters she forgives Foster.
Foster apologized during sentencing: “I was raised better than to be like this or take off from the scene. That’s not who I am… I want to be here for my daughter. I want to teach her the right ways.”
Friends and family members expressed disappointment at the sentence after court proceedings. Susan Lovan said unsafe pedestrian behavior is common along Highway 99 and described other issues such as drug use and littering.
Eugene police have responded by increasing enforcement along Highway 99 and offering treatment opportunities through deflection programs for drug offenders.
Jampolsky noted video footage showed Sheffield entering traffic without giving enough time for Foster to react but emphasized accountability: “Whether staying at the scene would have helped Sheffield is not really material but the human decency to remain on scene is.” Jampolsky recommended a sentence aligned with state guidelines due partly to Foster’s previous convictions including DUII.
Defense attorney Clayton Tullos argued against compounding what he called an unavoidable tragedy since Foster was not found at fault by authorities; surveillance footage reportedly showed him sober prior to driving home from work as a mechanic.
In addition to prison time, Foster received three years post-prison supervision and will lose his driver’s license for five years.
