The State - News from April 9, 1987

Bakersfield Municipal Judge Sharon Mettler wept as she sentenced 86-year-old Lawrence William Morris to three years’ probation on charges arising from a traffic accident in which a 19-year-old man was killed and a 15-year-old boy was left with major brain damage. Morris’ driver’s license required him to wear glasses, but he was not wearing them when he collided with a motorcycle last Dec. 7. He told a California Highway Patrol officer that he could “see better without them,” but admitted that he did not see the motorcycle. Mettler made Morris’ probation conditional on his not driving and on making speeches advising other elderly drivers to get off the road, but told the family of the victims that there is “no way that we can ever properly redress or compensate” their loss.