Family Fed Up Over Delay

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Family members of a Tulsa woman killed on U.S. Highway 75 in June, are fed up.  They want to know why the man responsible hasn't been arrested or charged with a crime.

The 46-year-old woman was on her way home from work to her husband and family when a man going the wrong way, with drugs in his system, hit her head-on.  Her family wants to know why the case seems to be going nowhere.

The scene was terrible.  Sheila Layton was pinned in her truck.  She died from a crushed chest the moment Thomas Pottoroff hit her.

The police report says he'd driven nearly 400 feet with his two left tires in the center median, and then drove for another 520 feet all the way in the median, before shooting out on the other side, heading the wrong way into traffic.

"It demolished the truck.  She never stood a chance," said Sheila's sister, Helena Reagan.

Sheila's shift at Nordam ended at 3:30 that afternoon.  She had called her daughter and was talking to her husband, when she died.

She left behind four children, seven grandchildren and a big family which is struggling to cope.

"What is really the hardest, my mom is battling cancer and already buried one child and then this happened and she almost gave up.  It was almost more than she could take," said Sheila's sister, Helena Reagan.

Records show Pottoroff admitted he'd taken morphine twice that day, as prescribed by his doctor after a motorcycle accident.  Blood tests show he also had valium and the sleep medicine, Ambien in his system.

Sheila's family thought by now, three months later, some kind of charge would be filed against him.

"That's what hurts the most, nobody seems to care," said Sheila's sister, Helena Reagan.

While Sheila's family spent the holiday weekend decorating her grave, they wondered if the man who killed her was enjoying a picnic with his family.  They believe he should go to prison.

They say replacing Sheila is impossible, but they don't want her forgotten.

"She loved her Harley, loved to do things with her grandkids. She was best described as tough as nails with the heart of an angel," said Sheila's sister, Helena Reagan.

Police say they turned over their investigation to the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office for charges of second degree manslaughter.

They say the DA assigned the case and wanted to meet with Pottoroff to get access to his medical records to see if the drugs in his system were the prescribed amount or more, but that meeting hasn't happened yet.

Related story:

06/02/2008  Fatal Accident On Highway 75