Skylar Hess could see less than three years in jail for vehicular manslaughter in Cattaraugus County
By Andrew Harris, pictured is the late Kayden Joseph Belleisle
It was one of the worst drunk driving accidents in Western New York history. A group of high school kids were hanging out on the front lawn of a Main Street Portville NY home. A drunk driver came along, exited the roadway, and slammed into the group of young people.
John Anderson reported on the tragedy at the time:
“Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s deputies charged Skyler J. Hess, 20, of Little Genesee with second-degree felony manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and two counts of felony second-degree vehicular assault after an accident that killed one teen and injured two others on Saturday at 1 a.m.”
Kayden Joseph Belleisle died at the scene, Gabby Kranock was permenantly disabled, and Hailey Bello was seriously injured. Both Kranock and Bellow face a lifetime of physical and mental obstacles to overcome as a result of the incident.
After a judge handed down the seemingly light sentence, supporters of Gabby Kranock issued this statement on social media:
“The link that follows is an article from our local newspaper reporting on the sentencing of the drunk driver that caused Gabby to become a quadriplegic and the unfortunate death of her very close friend, Kayden. Reading this will infuriate you and quite possibly make you cry (I know that I sure did) in reading the victim statements. Justice can never be found in these types of situations because these families can never go back to before this tragedy happened. But, a lousy sentence of only 2 1/3 to 7 years is unconscionable for the person who caused all of this devastation! The innocent people in this situation got the real punishments handed down to them: Kayden was sentenced to death and Gabby has been sentenced to a lifetime of pain and suffering!
Please pray for the peace and comfort of all the families and friends involved in this horrific crash. Thank you all for your continuous love and dedication…you are all rockstars in my book!! Please click on the link below to read the article.
A GoFundMe has been established for Gabby Kranock, who has been immobilzed and faces a lifetime of challenges and medical expenses. You can help her very easily here:
