Grant Rodgers

grodgers@dmreg.com

A CyRide bus driver will be given a 30-day jail sentence for the December hit-and-run accident that killed an Iowa State University student, after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to documents filed in court Monday.

Benjamin Clague, 24, was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday on charges of hit-and-run resulting in death and failure to obey a traffic signal in the collision death of 18-year-old Emmalee Jacobs of Urbana. A university police officer found Jacobs on the ground at the crosswalk of Ash Avenue with Lincoln Way, prompting a weeks-long investigation to find the driver responsible for her death.

However, a defense attorney on Monday morning filed a written guilty plea on Clague's behalf to a simple misdemeanor charge of failure to report an accident. Clague will be sentenced to serve 30 days in jail and pay a $100 fine, according to the plea document. All other charges will be dismissed.

Clague would have faced up to five years in prison if convicted of the original charge of hit-and-run resulting in death. But Story County prosecutor Jessica Reynolds said the plea deal became necessary after a ruling Thursday on jury instructions from Associate District Court Judge James Malloy.

Under the ruling, prosecutors would be required to prove that Clague knew he hit Jacobs at the time of the impact before leaving the scene to win a conviction, Reynolds said. However, evidence gathered from interviews with Clague showed that the bus driver didn't initially realize he'd hit a person, she said.

“Our evidence showed that he felt an impact, but didn’t know until after he’d left the scene," she said. “The court ruled that we had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew at the time of the accident. It was a pretty devastating ruling for our case."

Evidence showed that the bus driver realized he'd hit somebody approximately 20 minutes after the collision, when he noticed emergency vehicles on-scene and was rerouted due to the investigation, Reynolds said. Prosecutors asked for the trial to be rescheduled in hopes of appealing Malloy's ruling on the jury instruction, but another judge denied that request on Friday.

The lesser charge of failure to report an accident and jail sentence was "the maximum on the only charge that we had left,” Reynolds said.

Jacobs' parents declined to speak with a reporter, withholding public comment on the plea agreement until after the sentencing hearing. But Reynolds said the plea agreement was discussed with the student's family in advance.

"It’s obviously heart-wrenching for them," she said. "I feel for them so much.”

Clague was booked into the Story County Jail on Jan. 20 and posted bond on the same day, giving him little credit for the time he's already served, court records show. Clague is still employed by CyRide but is on administrative leave pending an outcome in the case, said Sheri Kyras, director of transit at CyRide.

Clague was identified as the driver after a CyRide supervisor reviewing video from buses contacted police. Clague was driving an empty bus at the time, and an impact could be heard on the video as he turned left onto Ash Avenue at the same time as the collision.

Reynolds said Monday that Clague's claims that he didn't immediately realize what happened were backed up by the weather at the time of the morning collision. It was still dark and raining at the time. However, Clague still chose not to report the incident to authorities after realizing his involvement, Reynolds said.

In a brief statement, ISU President Steven Leath thanked the Ames Police Department for the investigation that led to Clague's arrest.

"Today's plea announcement reminds us that we are missing a member of the Iowa State family who died tragically last December," Leath said. "We can't pass judgment on the appropriateness of the plea since the plea resulted from decisions within the legal system. We again want to express to the family and friends of Emmalee how much we miss her and to thank the Ames Police Department for their diligence in identifying the young man responsible for the accident."

A sentencing hearing for Clague was set for Friday at 1:30 p.m., and members of Jacobs' family will be allowed to make victim impact statements, Reynolds said. Such in-court statements are typically not made in simple misdemeanor cases, but prosecutors ensured they would be allowed as part of the plea agreement with Clague, she said.

Jacobs was struck around 7 a.m. as she was walking to campus for a final exam. There were no eyewitnesses to the crash, sparking an investigation that resulted in dozens of tips flowing into the Ames Police Department. Officers were dispatched to follow up on several reports of damaged vehicles and spoke with body shop owners to find a suspect.

Lucas Richardson, an Ames attorney representing Clague, was not immediately available to speak to a reporter. Clague, of Gilbert, was hired as a CyRide driver in October 2013 and passed all criminal and driving background checks.