• BYLINE: Scott Marshall


• DATE: 03-20-1999


• PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution


• SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires


• PAGE: C01

A toddler died Friday of injuries he suffered when he and his mother were struck by a teenage driver using a cellular telephone, authorities said.

Ryan Duffner, 2, was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. at Scottish Rite Children's Medical Center, said Jim Dempsey, a forensic investigator at the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's Office.

An autopsy was scheduled for today, Dempsey said.

Ryan's mother remained in serious condition Friday at Gwinnett Medical Center with head and leg injuries, said spokeswoman Paula Martin.

Ryan's death could lead to the teen being charged with felony vehicular homicide, District Attorney Danny Porter said. Porter said he would decide that, and whether to try the teen as an adult, after completing an investigation.

Ryan suffered a heart attack early Friday morning, then hung on only about 12 more hours. His death dashed the hopes of his family's neighbors, who have kept a vigil since Tuesday night's accident in a quiet subdivision between Lawrenceville and Dacula.

"It's just too close to home," said neighbor Becky Miles before she walked out her door to take the Duffner family a supper of taco casserole, Spanish rice and a gallon of iced tea. "Things like this just don't happen in our neighborhood."

Neighbors now will organize supper for the Duffners for the next three weeks, Miles said.

Lisa Duffner, Ryan and the family's other two children, Erica, 9, and Kyle, 3, were near home after a daily neighborhood walk when the Central Gwinnett High School student --- on the way home from visiting a friend --- struck them as she used a cell phone, a family attorney and police said.

The teenager, whose name is being withheld by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, left the scene and drove to a gas station near her Lawrenceville home, and her parents called police.

Copyright © 2000 The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution

• BYLINE: Milo Ippolito, Staff


• DATE: 09-25-1999


• PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution


• EDITION: Home


• SECTION: Gwinnett Extra


• PAGE: J1

Lisa and Rorry Duffner got as much satisfaction as Juvenile Court would allow after the death of their 2-year-old son. The 16-year-old girl who hit him with a van while using a cellular phone was ordered Friday to spend 90 days in boot camp. She must perform 500 hours of community service and cannot drive until she turns 20.

"Is it justice? No," Lisa Duffner said after the decision. "But it's what we can get." Lisa Duffner was walking with her three children alongside Bishop Lane in Lawrenceville, near their home, on March 16. Ashley Laing, 16, was driving her family's van home after visiting a boyfriend she had been forbidden to see. She called her mother on the cell phone to say she was on her way. That's when she swerved and plowed into the Duffners.

Lisa Duffner's leg was broken. Two of her children were bruised. But Ryan, 2, was thrown by the impact and died at the side of the road. Ashley got out, looked at what had happened, then drove off and called her parents. "You had a cell phone in your hand and you never called 911," Lisa Duffner told Ashley during the proceedings. "And that's what I will never forgive you for."

Lisa Duffner was hospitalized about two months. Metal pins and plates fill her right leg. A thick scar runs from ankle to thigh; it was covered in court by a brace. At their home, the Duffners have set up a memorial they call the Ryan Tree. It includes Ernie and Bert dolls, a blond boy angel and a bench that faces where the Duffners were hit by the van.

On Friday, the Duffners talked about the case afterward with news crews outside the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Lisa Duffner clutched a large portrait of Ryan and wore a button with his picture and the words: "Angel in Heaven."

The court could not give back what the Duffners wanted most: their Ryan. "Ninety days is a small price to pay for our son," Rorry Duffner said.

Copyright © 2000 The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution