Driver Who Killed Suffield Firefighter Avoids Jail

The man responsible for an accident that killed Suffield firefighter Paul R. Simison on March 28, 2012 was sentenced recently for the crime.

According to the Journal Inquirer, the man, Shaun Phelps, 30, of Southwick, will serve a suspended six-month sentence with a year of probation and 150 hours of community service in Suffield. He must also write a letter of apology to Simison’s family and he faces losing his license, depending on the verdict of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Phelps pleaded guilty to negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and accepted a plea bargain. 

Prosecution argued that Phelps should not have been behind the wheel of his truck when it collided with Simison’s car on Old Mountain Road, according to the Inquirer.

But his attorney said that the accident was truly an accident, since Simison was not under the influence of anything but exhaustion, having been up all night getting treated for a collapsed lung at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. 

While the judge asserted that Phelps had “suffered enough,” the Inquirer reported, Simison’s wife, Nancy Simson and daughter Kathryn Simison did not agree.

On the day of the crash, Phelps was operating a Ford pickup truck around 8:15 a.m. when his vehicle crossed the center line and struck Simison's car head-on, killing him instantly, Police Chief Michael Manzi said.

Simison, 60, was a longtime volunteer firefighter with the engine company at fire station No. 2 on Ratley Road in West Suffield. He was also an audiologist and worked in West Hartford, where he was headed when he was killed.