West Ocean City Man Sentenced after Striking a Pedestrian in a Fatal 2022 Crash
The man who pleaded guilty of negligent homicide in the 2022 death of Berlin veterinarian, Terri Wattay, has been sentenced. Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Beau Oglesby sentenced 63 year old Russell Kimball of West Ocean City to 10 years for negligent homicide while under the influence and a consecutive 5 year sentence for failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving death. All but 5 years of the sentence was suspended and Kimball will serve 5 years of supervised probation upon his release.
Additional Information from the Worcester County State’s Attorney:
According to court records, on October 6, 2022, Maryland State Police troopers responded to Grays Corner Road for a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. First responders arrived to find the victim, Terri Lynn Wattay, lying unresponsive in the grass off of the roadway, and immediately arranged for her to be flown to the University of Maryland鈥檚 Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland, due to the extent of her injuries. Ms. Wattay succumbed to her injuries while at Shock Trauma and was pronounced deceased.
During their investigation, troopers found a passenger side mirror and a reflective side
marker lying in the middle of the road, and then noticed a white Chevrolet Suburban missing a side mirror and reflective marker and with damage to a front headlight parked in a nearby driveway. Troopers knocked on the door at that address and made contact with Russell Kimball, who indicated that he had driven home from a local diner earlier that evening, and that he had swerved to avoid hitting a dog that was in the roadway.
Kimball failed field sobriety tests and submitted to a breath test, which showed his blood alcohol content was .12. Investigators were also able to obtain receipts from the diner showing that Kimball had purchased 6 shots of vodka and 2 beers prior to driving home that evening. Evidence obtained from other witnesses established that Kimball knew he had struck a woman with his truck and that just minutes after the collision, Kimball had tried to convince his roommate to lie to police about who was driving. Maryland State Police Crash Team鈥檚 investigation confirmed that Ms. Wattay had been left seriously injured and lying on the side of the road for at least 39 minutes while Kimball was at his residence nearby. Kimball never called for help or attempted to render any aid to Ms. Wattay during that time.
