Anthony Bertram spent much of his life sick, his friends said after his death, and the last year of it grieving his mother. But things were looking better as he left their Jan. 4 poker game.
“He was finally starting to get stuff together,” friend Jeremiah Spurlock said. “Finally started to look up.”
He would be dead before midnight. The man prosecutors believe caused his death, Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper Jeremy Ault, was indicted Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of vehicular manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
According to investigators, Bertram was driving northbound on State Route 222 when Ault's Ohio State Highway Patrol vehicle crossed the center line and struck him head-on. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ault is currently on occupational injury leave recovering from injuries he suffered in the crash, according to Lt. Robert Sellers.
Arraignment is scheduled for 10 a.m. on May 8 in the Clermont County Court of Common Pleas.
