Driver pleads guilty to reduced charge in crash that killed actor Treat Williams

BENNINGTON, Vt. (WTEN) — The driver charged with causing a crash that killed actor Treat Williams in June 2023 accepted a plea agreement in court Friday morning.

Williams was driving a motorcycle near Dorset, Vermont, last summer when a car, driven by 35-year-old Ryan Koss, tried to make a left turn and entered Williams’ path, Vermont State Police said at the time.

Williams, unable to avoid the crash, was thrown from the motorcycle. Authorities said he suffered “critical injuries” and was airlifted to an Albany, New York, hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 71.

Koss — the managing creative director of the Dorset Theatre Festival who knew the actor and his family through Vermont’s theatre community — originally pleaded not guilty to a charge of gross negligent operation with death resulting in September.

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On Friday, Koss pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge that will allow him to avoid prison time. He received a one-year deferred sentence and, as part of his probation, he will have his driving license revoked for a year. Koss must also complete a community restorative justice program on the misdemeanor charge. If he commits a crime or violates probation within the next year, he could face up to two years in prison.

“I made a left turn that collided with an oncoming motorcycle, and it was my responsibility to avoid that from happening,” Koss said Friday, apologizing to Williams’ wife, Pam, and their two children, Gill and Ellie.

Gill Williams, the late actor’s 32-year-old son, addressed Koss, saying, “I’ve spent months now thinking of all the things that could be hurtful, and I don’t want to do that.”

Instead, Gill, wearing his father’s jacket, sat across from Koss and forgave him. “I do forgive you, and I hope you forgive yourself, and I don’t want you to go to prison,” he added. The family did not want to press charges or have Koss go to prison, he said.

After the crash, Koss called Williams’ wife to tell her what happened, said Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage, who said Koss from the beginning has taken responsibility for the accident.

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“It’s very difficult to have this happen based on someone’s negligence,” Gill added, urging people to take driving a lot more seriously and to look out for motorcycles. Statements from Williams’ wife, Pam, and his daughter, who both did not attend the court hearing, were read aloud.

Pam Williams said in her statement that it was a tragic accident and that she hopes Koss can forgive himself.

“Our lives will never be the same, our family has been torn apart and there is a huge hole that can’t possibly be filled,” she wrote in her statement.

Daughter Ellie Williams wrote in her statement that she was too angry and hurt at this time to forgive Koss but hopes she will in the future.

“I will never get to feel my father’s hug again; be able to get his advice again, introduce him to my future husband, have him walk me down the aisle, introduce him to my babies, and have him cry when I name my first son after him,” a victim’s advocate said in reading her statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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