By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
EL RENO – A trial is set in early January for a Yukon truck driver charged in a fatal crash.
The jury trial for Gregory Albert Patty, 60, is on Judge Khristan K. Strubhar’s Jan. 10th docket in Canadian County District Court.
The defendant, a Yukon resident, was charged March 14 with negligent homicide in connection with a deadly traffic collision northwest of Yukon.
The misdemeanor crime is punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a maximum $1,000 fine.
Lexington’s Stacy Renae Bertolozzi, 29, died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle crash that occurred about 1:40 p.m. Sept. 20, 2021, at the intersection of State Highway 3 (N.W. Expressway) and N Cemetery Road.
The criminal court case has been moved to Judge Strubhar’s docket.
Strubhar, who has been serving as a special judge, was elected to succeed the retired Jack D. McCurdy II as a Canadian County district judge.
Oklahoma City Police investigated the fatal wreck.
Assistant District Attorney John Salmon alleges Patty caused Bertolozzi’s death by driving a 2021 Freightliner heavy box truck “in reckless disregard of the safety of others” by failing to yield and colliding with Bertolozzi’s 2015 Honda Civic.
Patty was reportedly driving the commercial truck southbound on N Cemetery Road crossing over SH-3, traveling across four lanes of through traffic and turn lanes for SH-3 eastbound and westbound traffic.
‘FELT A COLLISION’
“The defendant stated he looked to the west and did not see any vehicles approaching from the west, so he proceeded to attempt to cross State Highway 3,” according to a probable cause affidavit signed by Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Mark Sexton.
“(He) felt a collision and began to stop his vehicle.”
The yield sign for southbound traffic in the SH-3 median is clearly marked, Sgt. Sexton wrote in his affidavit.
“The defendant realized he was involved in a collision and stopped his vehicle,” the investigator’s affidavit reads.
Patty pulled to the right and off the roadway to the west side of N Cemetery Road on the south side of the intersection.
Victim Bertolozzi was pronounced dead by emergency medical personnel who had arrived at the scene. Oklahoma City Fire crews and emergency medical technicians responded to the crash.
A warrant for Patty’s arrest was served March 16 and the defendant was released on a $25,000 bond, according to court documents.
Patty is represented by attorney J. Brent Galyon of Oklahoma City.
A negligence lawsuit filed against Patty and his employers is pending in Oklahoma County District Court. The civil action was filed on behalf of the administrator of the victim’s estate.
Defendant Patty has generally denied all claims made by the plaintiff in the suit, arguing the plaintiff’s prayer for punitive damages is unconstitutional and should be dismissed as a matter of law
