Court sentences wrong-way driver in fatal accident

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By BETH ZUMWALT

The man accused of driving eastbound in the westbound lane of I-72, near the Hull exit has been sentenced to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The accident happened Oct. 8, 2023.
Steven M. Harrison was sentenced Dec. 10 to 10 years and to pay $401,646 in fines and fees including $396,697 in reimbursement to the families for medical costs and funeral expenses.
Harrison’s plea was negotiated with him pleading guilty to two counts of reckless homicide and one count of reckless driving. A charge of wrong-way driving was dismissed. He was sentenced to 10 years on each of the reckless homicide charges with those sentences to run concurrently.
Harrison is mandated to serve at least half of the 10 years before he is eligible for parole. Judge Frank McCartney delivered the sentence.
Harrison has been lodged for nearly a year in the Pike County Jail.
According to police reports at the time, Harrison was driving east in the westbound lane around 9:30 p.m. Also driving in the west-bound lane, heading west, were John J. Wagler, 49, Bloomfield, Iowa and James D. Wood, 65, Payson.
Harrison’s vehicle sideswiped Wagler’s vehicle causing it to leave the roadway and strike a guard rail. Wagler was not hurt.
The Harrison vehicle then went on to crash head-on into the Wood vehicle, which was behind the Wagler vehicle.
A passenger in Harrison’s vehicle, Amanda Harrison, 43, of Laddonia Mo., and a passenger in the Wood vehicle, Angela Wood, 59, Payson, were pronounced dead at the scene. Steven Harrison was airlifted to a local hospital and James Wood was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Passengers in the Wood vehicle received minor injuries.