SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Forget about the ducks and geese allegedly disappearing from public parks. In this beleaguered city, residents say the biggest problem, by far, is that wild-driving Haitian migrants — unfamiliar with US road laws — are turning the streets into combat zones.
And the result can be deadly. The family of Springfield grandma Kathy Heaton experienced this firsthand on Dec. 1 — a day after her 71st birthday — when a Haitian migrant ran her down while she was collecting her garbage cans.
And the driver got off scot-free.
“It was around 5:40 in the morning. The trash had come early that day and we think that’s what probably woke her up,” Kathy’s daughter-in-law, Mandy Heaton, told The Post.
“She was a like-to-keep-busy kind of woman.”
Kathy was struck so violently that both her socks were left behind on the pavement as her body was thrown across the street. Debris littered the roadway, and clumps of hair were found in the car’s cracked windshield, according to the police report.
But three days later, prosecutors decided that the driver of the car that hit her – 38-year-old Robenson Louis – wouldn’t face charges, even though Mandy said he was driving with expired license plates.
“They didn’t feel that it was anything prosecutable. We don’t know why. The only facts I know are that two prosecutors met and felt there were no charges to be filed. We were devastated,” Mandy said.
“I do not think that this man woke up that morning and set out his day with the intention of harming someone. But the fact was that he did,” she added.
Louis declined to comment on the accident when contacted by The Post.
Mandy and countless other Springfield residents feel the problem is in the roughly 20,000 Haitian migrants who have flooded into this city of just 60,000 people in just a few years.
Longtime residents say the immigrants are getting temporary driving permits without having to learn how to drive safely in the US — or even knowing how to drive at all.
“There must be eight to 10 accidents a day here,” one resident who asked not to be named told The Post.
“I’ve seen cars drive up into buildings and onto sidewalks. I believe everyone deserves help, but we shouldn’t be providing cars and licenses until people know how to drive here safely.”
On social media, residents have posted alarming footage showing cars in ditches, smashed up at intersections, flying across the road into oncoming traffic, and even crashed through homes and businesses.
Such accounts line up with what Mandy and her family say they’re seeing on a regular basis – and has left them “constantly stressed and anxious” to do things as basic as walking through a parking lot, let alone going for a drive with her young twins.
“Haitians are going the wrong way down one-way streets, making unlawful U-turns in the middle of the roadways, damaging property by driving recklessly, there’s been some street signs taken out, people have had their garages wrecked,” she said.
“They’re thrown into a situation where they’re given a license with minimal education and training on our laws and rules here.”
Her mother-in-law has not been the only fatality involving a Haitian driver.
In August 2023, 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed when a 36-year-old Haitian driving without a US license caused the school bus he was riding in to roll over, crushing him underneath.
At least 20 other kids were hospitalized.
The driving problem has attracted such attention that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced this week that in addition to $2.5 million in aid, he would be sending additional State Highway Patrol troopers to Springfield to help maintain order on the roads.
On Tuesday, Mandy and her husband Chris gave emotional testimony to the Springfield City Commission, asking lawmakers to pass “Kathy’s Law” which would require all immigrants seeking an Ohio driver’s license to go through the same tests and regulations required of first-time American drivers.
“We will push to enforce the same restrictions that my seven-year-old twins who lost their grandmother that night will have to follow when they seek to obtain a license,” her husband said.
Springfield was pulled into the spotlight this week after claims that Haitian migrants were killing local cats, ducks, and geese for food, went viral — and were amplified by vice presidential candidate and Ohio senator JD Vance, who said his office had been inundated with reports.
Local officials denied there was anything of the sort was happening — but an August police report claiming four Haitians were spotted snatching geese from a local park was obtained by the Federalist on Wednesday.
The city manager’s office told The Post that report was unsubstantiated.
The claims went mainstream Tuesday night when Donald Trump brought them up during the presidential debate.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame,” he said, as the debate moderator insisted the city denied all claims.
Neither the Clark County prosecutors nor the Ohio State Highway Patrol responded to requests for comment.
The Springfield sheriff’s office also did not respond to requests for information about reports of accidents involving Haitian immigrants.
