Southwest Missouri man gets probation in highway death of state trooper

HOUSTON, Mo. -- A Republic man who took his eyes off the road to pick up fallen papers was sentenced to four years probation Tuesday for hitting and killing a state trooper last year on a Texas County highway.

Forrest Larry Ghan, 65, withdrew a plea of not guilty and admitted looking down while driving to retrieve some papers that had fallen to the floor of his pickup truck.

The truck hit Donald "Kevin" Floyd, 45, of Licking as he walked back to his car Sept. 22 after ticketing a speeder on the side of U.S. 60 southwest of Cabool.

Circuit Judge Tracy Storie sentenced Ghan for second-degree manslaughter, a clerk for the Texas County Circuit Court in Houston said.

The judge handed Ghan a suspended two-year prison sentence and ordered him to serve four years of probation. Ghan was also fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Ghan had faced a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

The probation and fine matched the sentence recommendation from prosecutor Mike Anderson, who had said Ghan's decision to plead guilty spared Floyd's family the trauma of a trial.

Floyd's death came about a month after a similar accident in Webster County killed another trooper, Cpl. John A. "Jay" Sampietro, of Rogersville. He was struck by a sport utility vehicle on Interstate 44 while directing traffic at the site of an earlier crash that killed four people.

The SUV's driver, Wendye Chesher, of Arkoma, Okla., pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. A judge sentenced her to five years of supervised probation and seven days of shock time.