Driver who killed pedestrian on Beechmont Ave. in Anderson sentenced to 7 years

The night of June 9, 2021, Andrea Bengal decided to drive down Beechmont Avenue with a large amount of cocaine in her system, prosecutors said.

At about 10 p.m., Bengal drove across multiple lanes and struck 57-year-old Jee Han Park as he walked in the bike lane with his husband. The car struck Park with enough force that he was thrown 90 feet. His pants and shoes "were ripped off of his body," Judge Melba Marsh said during Bengal's sentencing Thursday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

The car barely missed Park's husband, who said in a letter to Marsh that he felt the car "brush against" his leg before hearing "an explosion."

He then called out Park's name, but there was no response.

Park's 58th birthday was the following day. Instead of planning a party, Park's husband said in the letter, he had to plan a funeral.

Man killed along Beechmont was church pianist, Ph.D. student

Marsh sentenced Bengal, who pleaded guilty last month to charges including aggravated vehicular homicide, to seven years in prison. After hearing the prison term, Bengal began crying uncontrollably, saying, "Oh my God."

Bengal, 49, has dealt with substance abuse since the 1990s. She has at least three misdemeanor convictions for driving while intoxicated, the last in 2011. But she had a valid driver's license at the time of the fatal crash, which happened in Anderson Township.

Marsh said Bengal hadn't been continuously sober in many years but should have known better than anyone the consequences of choosing to drive while intoxicated. 

Bengal was involved in Alcoholics Anonymous, although she admitted to Marsh that she had relapsed multiple times.

Assistant Prosecutor Caitlin Broo said the large amount of cocaine in Bengal's system indicated she had "a habitual problem."

Bengal, however, denied regularly using cocaine. Alcohol, she said, was her drug of choice. She said she turned to cocaine after going to the emergency room two days before the crash and being prescribed oxycodone. She had hurt herself in a fall during a hike, she said.

A woman she knew from Alcoholics Anonymous gave her the cocaine, she told Marsh. 

"The oxycodone switched something in me," she said. "I was not thinking clearly."

Marsh said the tragedy was preventable and that Bengal was lying about not being a habitual user.

"One person had the power to prevent this," Marsh said, looking directly at Bengal.

"You haven’t been sober continuously for years," the judge added. "That’s on you."