By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-04-03 21:37:25 | Updated at 2025-04-04 17:20:03
21 hours ago
A distracted driver who killed a beloved straight-A student in 2023 has finally received his punishment.
Craig Potts, 37, was sentenced to 30 days in jail after he caused a crash that killed Cassandra 'Cassy' Linder, 16, while he was driving a tractor-trailer, County Attorney Susan Richmeier announced in a press release.
Potts was hauling a milk trailer on a highway in Garden City, Kansas, which is about three hours West of Wichita, when he veered to the left and collided with Linder's Fiat on March 13.
Potts told police that he was on his phone and reached down for a bottle of water.
Cassy survived the initial impact but both her legs and her arms were broken and severely injured.
Once emergency responders were able to remove her from the wreckage she was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.
'We all could not believe our sunflower had been plucked from this Earth,' Cassy's dad, Todd Linder, wrote in an op-ed for Newsweek.
'Our family's worst nightmare had just happened. Our lifetime sentence had just started.'
Cassandra 'Cassy' Linder, 16, was a straight-A student involved in her community before she was killed by a distracted driver on March 13, 2023
Craig Potts pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter and will serve 30 days in prison for killing the teen
Cassy was driving her Fiat on a highway in Kansas when Potts' tractor-trailer veered into her vehicle
'That was the day our family's vibrant sunflower was picked from this Earth and sent on a voyage to the afterlife, not by her choice, but by the selfish choice of another driver, who chose to drive distracted,' he continued.
Potts was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, failure to drive on the right side of the road, and two counts of failing to obey motor safety regulations for not wearing a seatbelt and driving fatigued.
Potts pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter instead of involuntary manslaughter at a plea hearing. Vehicular manslaughter is a misdemeanor crime.
Potts will also serve probation for 18 months and can serve his sentence in two, fifteen day periods within three months. He also had to surrender his commercial driver's license.
'Tremendous time and effort are put forth on behalf of victims and achieving justice according to the law as written within the State of Kansas,' Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier said.
'This office extends their heartfelt sympathy to the Linder family, friends and loved ones and we acknowledge the toll this case has had on our community.'
In response to the press release posted on Facebook, Cassy's dad commented, 'Our family understands that there can never be true justice. Cassy never had the opportunity to a plea deal. We love and miss you Cassy Kay.'
Linder told local NBC affiliate, KSN-TV, that the family disagreed with the plea deal and wanted the case to go to trial.
Cassy's father said that she was a straight-A student, a coach, and was very involved in her community
Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier said the punishment was the 'most likely' outcome of a trial and offered condolences to the Linder family
'But we're also not attorneys. We're just regular Kansans who had to endure this pain because of somebody else's actions,' he added.
Linder said that not only was his daughter a straight-A student, but she loved hanging out with her friends, and she was a coach for track and basketball.
Her dad also said that Cassy wanted to follow in her older sister's footsteps and go to Kansas University.
'A prom we will never see, a graduation we will never see, a career choice we will never see, a college graduation we will never see, a wedding we will never see, a grandchild we will never see. The "Never See's" can go on forever in our family's mind,' Linder wrote in Newsweek.
Cassy's family has remained dedicated to raising awareness about distracted driving and are advocating for harsher penalties for the crime
Cassy's family referred to her as a 'sunflower' and have used the flower as a way to remember her since her death
Cassy's family has vowed since her death to raise awareness for distracted driving and prevent others from dying the way that she did.
The Linders have become campaigners, giving out floor mats with sunflowers and the message 'Don't Drive Distracted' inscribed in memory of Cassy.
'If we can save one life, then it's all worth it. We don't want one person anywhere to go through what we have had to go through,' Linder told KSN.
He is also advocating for legislative change to change vehicular homicide from a misdemeanor charge to a felony.
'It's up to our legislators in the House and Senate who we vote for to change the laws, and we have to be that voice for Cassy to try to change the laws in Kansas when it involves commercial motor vehicles and vehicular homicide,' Linder said.
