Hit and Run Driver Who Killed Pedestrian Gets One Year in Prison

On September 27, 2015, Frederick James Ryerson was driving his Honda Civil on Southeast Stark when he struck Christopher Brian Chandler. Ryerson kept driving. Chandler died soon after at a hospital.

Ryerson, who was a 20-year-old student at Lewis and Clark College, will spend one year in prison after pleading no contest to hit and run and driving under the influence.

When police found Ryerson and his smashed Honda hours after the crash he first told them someone had smashed the windshield while the car was parked outside a friend's house. Then he said someone had thrown a rock through the windshield while he was driving.

Then he admitted what had happened though he said he hadn't realized he had sit someone at the time.

While Ryerson had been originally been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors had several challenges ahead of them if they had chosen that path, including proving Ryerson had been reckless.

That would have been complicated by the facts that Chandler had been dressed all in black, had been drinking, and was standing in the street.

Photo Multnomah County Sheriff's Office