Teen's fountain crash sentence delayed

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - An 18-year-old who was trying to teach his 16-year-old German girlfriend how to drive when she hit a man sitting on a bench received a delayed sentence for 11 months.

Cade Cronheim pleaded guilty in an Ottawa County court Nov. 12 to felony charge of driving with a suspended license causing serious injury and allowing a minor to operate a motor vehicle.

On June 14, the 16-year-old exchange student was working the pedals while Cronheim had his hands on the wheel when the pickup truck went over the curb in front of Keegstra's Dollar Store on Kelly Street in Hudsonville.

The vehicle hit attorney Jason Ronning, who was sitting on a bench and jumped up to push his son out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. The truck ended up in a fountain.

At his sentencing Wednesday, the judge delayed Cronheim's sentence until November 18, 2013. He will not be on probation, but must follow the guidelines of a probation sentence for the next 11 months. If he remains out of the court system, the felony charge will be dropped to a misdemeanor.

Cronheim must return to the Ottawa County Circuit Court for final sentencing in November.

In November Ronning, who spent more than a week in the hospital after the crash , told 24 Hour News 8 the plea was appropriate and that he looks forward to sentencing.

The exchange student, meanwhile, has returned to Germany and failed to return to Ottawa County in October for a court hearing. Extradition is not being sought, but if she returns to the US, she will be arrested.