Tammie Hursh

Lima Municipal Court Judge Tammie Hursh sentenced Yvio Michel, 53, to a combined 270 days in jail — 90 days for negligent homicide, 180 days for vehicular manslaughter — after he pleaded no contest to both misdemeanor counts for a February 2026 crash on I-75 in Allen County that killed Hurshel Gipson, 52, and his 11-year-old son. Hursh then suspended all but 20 of those 270 days, leaving Michel to serve two consecutive 10-day terms. Michel, driving a semi tractor-trailer northbound, failed to stop for traffic already halted by an earlier vehicle fire and plowed into the line of stopped cars, striking four passenger vehicles and another semi. Gipson and his son were both pronounced dead at the scene; Gipson's wife, Amanda, and at least four other people in the struck vehicles were injured.

Neither statute Michel was convicted under carries a mandatory minimum absent aggravating factors not present in this case, meaning the 270-day sentences Hursh herself imposed reflected her own assessment of what the crimes warranted — and the decision to suspend nearly all of that time, down to a combined 20 days actually served, was hers as well. A separate plea agreement had already dropped a second negligent-homicide count, a second vehicular-manslaughter count, and a failure-to-maintain-assured-clear-distance charge; Hursh's sentencing decision came after that reduction, on the two counts that remained.

Hursh also imposed a $1,141 fine. Michel, a Haitian national, is in the United States legally, according to county officials — Hometown Stations (WLIO/WOHL) initially reported he was in the country illegally, then formally corrected that to "legally," and reported he was pursuing asylum; ICE has nonetheless placed a detainer on him to take him into custody once his jail term is complete, citing the 2025 Laken Riley Act's provision covering noncitizens convicted of crimes resulting in death. The sentencing drew immediate public criticism in Lima, including a published letter to the local paper accusing Hursh of a broader pattern of leniency and calling for her removal from the bench.