Heavy/Hallmark Treat Williams, star of Hallmark's "Chesapeake Shores" and "The Christmas House" movies, was killed in a June 2023 car crash.
Months after pleading not guilty to causing the crash that killed Hallmark star Treat Williams in June 2023, Ryan Koss addressed the actor’s family in a hearing on March 8, 2024. After reaching a plea deal, Koss pleaded guilty to “negligent driving that resulted in death,” according to CNN.
During an emotional hearing in Bennington, Vermont, Koss, 35, apologized to Williams’ family — son Gill, 32, daughter Ellie, 25, and wife Pamela Van Sant — after listening to their heartbreaking statements.
Here’s what you need to know:
Treat Williams’ Son Gives Heartbreaking Statement in Court
GettyActor Treat Williams and his son, actor and producer Gill Williams, in 2019
According to to a press release from the Vermont State Police, Koss was charged on August 1 with “grossly negligent operation with death” after investigators determined that he was driving the SUV that “turned into the path of Mr. Williams’ motorcycle” in Dorset, Vermont.
After pleaded guilty on March 8, Judge Kerry Ann McDonald-Cady said that his sentencing will be deferred for a year, according to the Associated Press, and his driver’s license will be suspended during that time. He must also attend mental health counseling and a restorative justice program.
If he doesn’t comply, the judge could sentence him to a maximum two years prison and a $3,000 fine. If he does, per the Bennington Banner, the charge will be wiped from his record.
Wearing his dad’s jacket to the hearing, per the AP, Gill spoke directly to Koss, revealing that his family did not want to press charges or see him go to jail. Koss had known Williams for years through the local theater community and said after the crash that he’d considered him a friend.
Standing a few feet away from Koss, according to the Bennington Banner, Gill told him, “I have to just imagine what you must be going through because what I’m going through is so beyond words to describe, and for you to have been the person that caused it, I can’t imagine what that feels like. I truly feel for you.”
“I’ve spent months now, going through my head of all the things that I could say that would be hurtful and I don’t want to do that,” he told Koss, per CNN. “I know that for me, to heal, and for my family to heal, for me to move on, I have to become a new person because you hit me that day and you killed me that day in some way.”
“Part of that new person is being able to come here today to say that I do forgive you,” he continued, per the Bennington Banner. “And I hope you forgive yourself.”
Revealing that he and his dad had been writing a movie together at the time of his death, the Bennington Banner reported, Gill called his father “a truly an extraordinary human being who had so much life left to live and so many incredible things to do.”
“Nothing’s going to bring my dad back,” Gill continued. “He was everything in the whole world. We had so much left to do together. Anything I do now he doesn’t get to see, and it’s absolutely devastating. I don’t know how I’m going to get through, but I know that I will, and I hope you do too. I don’t want there to be any more pain in the world than there needs to be.”
Wife & Daughter of Treat Williams Issue Statements About His Life & Death
Williams’ daughter and wife did not attend the sentencing hearing in-person, but issued statements read aloud by victim’s advocate Tammy Loveland, according to the Bennington Banner.
His daughter Ellie wrote in her statement. “I want to be respectful and be a bigger person. Because that’s what my mind tells me to do. However, what matters now is what my heart tells me. And that’s to be truthful.”
Ellie then listed the many things she won’t be able to experience with her dad, from feeling his hugs to having him walk her down the aisle with her future husband.
“I was going to say that I do not hate you,” she wrote. “I was going to tell you to forgive yourself. I wouldn’t have meant it. I certainly don’t mean it now. I understand that this was a genuinely terrible accident. I hope that I can forgive you in the future, but I am too angry and hurt now. I know your life changed that day and that your life will never be the same, and the countless memories I am now deprived of will never happen.”
Van Sant, meanwhile, issued a much shorter statement about her husband’s death, according to the Bennington Banner.
“I’m so sorry that we all have to live with this,” she wrote. “It has been eight months, but it feels like yesterday to me, as I know it does for Gill and Ellie. 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.”
Ryan Koss Apologizes to Treat Williams’ Family, Friends & Fans in Court
Heavy/Vermont State PoliceRyan Koss, the driver of the car that collided with actor Treat Williams’ motorcycle on June 12, 2023
Koss, according to the Manchester Journal, moved to the small town of Dorset with his husband, Will Rucker, in 2018 to work for the Dorset Theatre Festival, which is known for its high-caliber summer productions. Weeks before the accident, Koss was promoted to managing creative director and Rucker was named executive artistic director at the theater.
Koss knew Williams because of his involvement in the tight-knit local arts community. When Williams wasn’t away filming, including for the Hallmark series “Chesapeake Shores” and his final project, the FX limited series “Feud: Capote vs The Swans,” he appeared in multiple local theater productions.
“I can only begin my sincerest apologies and condolences to the Williams family and also to Mr. Williams’ loved ones, to his fans and to our community, who all cherished him,” Koss said as he addressed the court, according to CNN.
He continued, “I’m here to acknowledge that this accident occurred because I made a left turn in front of an oncoming motorcycle that collided with my car and it was my responsibility to avoid that from happening, and for that I am truly sorry. And I hope this moment can bring some resolution to anyone impacted by this tragedy, especially to Pam Gill and Ellie, I’m so sorry.”
After the hearing, Gill told the Bennington Banner that the day before Williams’ death, he had gifted him with he very motorcycle he died driving.
“It’s such a bizarre situation,” Gill said. “He literally gave me that motorcycle the day before. He was the safest person in the world. He spent the whole day telling me how to be safe and look out for others. And it’s very difficult to have this happen based on someone else’s negligence.”
He continued, “I’m just going to continue my dad’s legacy, keep living the way that he lived, which was just as an extraordinary person who truly took every day as if it was his last. I thought we had more time together, but that’s life.”