The 40-year-old driver who caused a crash on I-480 back in 2020 that resulted in the death of Daniel Ripepi, 62, of Independence, won't spend any time in prison after being found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide.
The defendant, Jason D. Beard, of Bedford, was sentenced to five years in prison, but the time behind bars was suspended. He was also placed on probation for three years, received six points on his license and had his license suspended for five years, according to the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
Beard was indicted in February 2021 for the Sept. 24, 2020 crash. He was originally charged with two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, both third-degree felonies. The indictment states Beard caused the crash that killed Ripepi because he was driving recklessly.
Beard was driving a 2015 Western Star dump truck west on I-480 with the truck bed up when his vehicle hit an overhead sign near State Road. Beard was working as an independent contractor to deliver top soil to a construction site nearby. The sign fell onto a gray 2019 Ford F-150 that Ripepi was driving to his work in Middleburg Heights, according to authorities.
RELATED:
- The Ripepi Family to host inaugural 'Danny Ripepi Memorial Concert' featuring Night Ranger
- Ripepi family awards 5 police departments with K-9 officer following Danny Ripepi Memorial Concert
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
