By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
EL RENO – A negligent homicide charge against a Yukon truck driver has been dismissed permanently.
Gregory Albert Patty’s criminal case was closed May 23 in Canadian County District Court.
Assistant District Attorney Austin T. Murrey filed a motion asking that the court to dismiss the misdemeanor charge with prejudice “in the best interests of justice.”
Canadian County Special Judge David H. Halley signed the order dismissing the case.
Patty, 61, was charged in March 2022 with the misdemeanor stemming from a fatal traffic collision in September 2021 near Yukon.
Lexington’s Stacy Renae Bertolozzi, 29, died from injuries sustained in the two-vehicle crash at the intersection of State Highway 3 (N.W. Expressway) and N Cemetery Road.
Canadian County prosecutors had alleged Patty caused Bertolozzi’s death by driving a 2021 Freightliner heavy box truck “in reckless disregard of others” by failing to yield and colliding with Bertolozzi’s 2015 Honda Civic.
A dismissal with prejudice means the action filed by the Canadian County District Attorney’s Office cannot be brought back before the court.
Prosecutors dismissed the criminal case against Patty with costs, according to court records.
Patty paid $247.75 in court-related costs and fees on May 23, court records show.
A $25,000 bond, posted March 16, 2022, was exonerated.
Oklahoma City attorney J. Brent Galyon represented Patty in the criminal case.
FATAL CRASH
On Sept. 20, 2021, 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.
“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.
Bertolozzi was pronounced dead by emergency medical personnel at the scene. Oklahoma City Fire crews and emergency medical technicians responded to the crash.
Negligent homicide is a misdemeanor crime punishable by one year in jail and/or a maximum $1,000 fine.
A negligence lawsuit against Patty and his employer is still pending in Oklahoma County District Court.
Attorneys for Stacy Bertolozzi’s husband Tony filed the civil case in January 2022.
A jury trial is scheduled Dec. 4 before District Judge Anthony L. Bonner with a pretrial conference Aug. 19.
