NORWICH – This afternoon, a Chenango County grand jury will decide what crimes, if any, to charge an Otselic Valley man with over an incident which left a 12-year-old girl dead.
George Ford Jr., 42, of Piscataway, N.J., was charged with first degree reckless endangerment following an investigation by the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office into an alleged vehicle accident which killed Shyanne A. Somers, 12, South Otselic, on July 8.
“There is great anticipation that he will be indicted on several other counts,” said Ford’s attorney, Randel Scharf.
“We tried to arrange bail, but the Sheriff’s Office said they had new evidence and if it was posted, they would be forced to upgrade his charge to murder in order to keep him in jail,” said Ford’s wife, Cindy.
“We intend to charge the defendant with far more serious offenses than the charges currently against him,” said District Attorney Joseph McBride.
“I can tell you there will be additional charges pending and they will be more serious,” said Sheriff Thomas Loughren.
The grand jury will have evidence presented to them later today behind closed doors and Ford himself may be testifying. “We have filed notice that Mr. Ford may be testifying before the grand jury,” said Scharf.
Ford has been held in the Chenango County Jail since his arrest July 8, on $100,000 bail.
“It was near impossible to raise the money (for bail) and we had to put up our property in Pennsylvania, but the police called and told me not to bother because they were going to be charging him with murder and said they wanted to tell me before I tried because I had been cooperating so well,” said Cindy Ford.
The couple has a three-year-old son and has been married for just over seven years.
“George is a good guy. Everyone liked him. I saw him last weekend and he’s devastated by all of this. He’s scared and cries all the time. It’s all so very difficult for both of us and we feel horrible about the little girl and her family. I can’t imagine what they must be going through. It’s all so very sad,” said Cindy.
Although Mrs. Ford said she did not know the Somers family as well as her husband did, the couples had talked on occasion, helped each other with a few odd jobs and had dinner together one time. “They are good people,” said Cindy. She said she believes that the incident was an unfortunate accident and hopes the truth will come forward so her husband can be cleared.
The Case Against Ford
At Ford’s felony hearing, investigators revealed some of what they believed happened the night of the incident. Ford allegedly returned home Saturday evening at around 10:30 p.m. to change clothes.
Ford planned on returning to a graduation party he’d been attending all afternoon, where he had left his wife and three-year-old son. Before leaving his home he asked his neighbors, the mother of the victim first and then the daughter, if they could baby-sit his son for him so he could return to the party that night with his wife without having to keep their son up late. The young girl agreed and went back to Ford’s residence.
Ford’s wife and son unexpectedly returned home in another vehicle and she decided she wanted to stay home instead of returning to the party. “I had been there all day and just wanted to go home,” said Cindy.
Ford then allegedly decided to take Somers back home from his seasonal residence on Rt. 26 in South Otselic at approximately 11:30 p.m.
On the way back to the Somers residence, Ford stopped along Will Warner Road to allow the girl to visit his horses, which police acknowledged she was fond of.
According to testimony, Somers got out of the truck to see the horses and walked along side the vehicle. Unable to see any of the animals Ford drove up the road to turn around and got his truck stuck, and while attempting to free his vehicle through a number of maneuvers, he struck and killed the girl with his three quarter ton, 2004 Ford extended-cab pickup truck.
Police said Ford told them he was unaware that he had even struck the girl until he got out of his truck to lock his tires into four-wheel drive and discovered her under his front driver’s side tire.
Police testified the defendant acknowledge himself to be an “ aggressive, crazy driver who liked to peal out and rev his engine.”
While the alleged accident took place Saturday night around midnight, the victim wasn’t taken to the hospital until five hours later at 5 a.m. Sunday.
“He said he was unable to get the victim in his vehicle because of her physical condition, he was too upset to move or touch the body because of the severity of the injuries,” testified Sheriff’s Lt. James E. Lloyd. He also claimed he got lost while driving the victim to the hospital some time later, said Lloyd.
At the felony hearing, police said that Ford admitted consuming some beers and shots of whiskey between noon and 10:30 p.m. at a graduation party the day of the incident.
Police at the scene testified that the defendant’s truck and Ford himself smelled of alcohol. After returning to the sheriff’s station, Ford was given an alcohol breath test in which he did test positive with a blood alcohol level of .01 percent.
Sheriff deputies also carried out a search of Ford’s truck and discovered a bag of marijuana inside.
The autopsy conducted by Dr. James Terzian stated said the girl in all likelihood died immediately from multiple fractures across her body that caused massive internal hemorrhaging.
Police have yet to release the full results of their investigation.