Woman injured in Garrett Reid's 2007 calls his death ‘awful tragedy'

By Stephanie Farr and Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: August 06, 2012

THROUGH HER tears on Sunday, Louise Hartman spoke about the man who left her with severe head trauma when his vehicle struck hers while he was driving high on heroin in 2007.

Hartman's tears were not born out of anger or bitterness, but out of sadness. She had long ago forgiven Garrett Reid for the accident that could have killed them both on Jan. 30, 2007, but she couldn't get over the news yesterday of his untimely death.

"I never held any animosity toward him. I felt sorry for him," Hartman, 61, said from her home in Mount Carmel, Pa., about 90 miles northwest of Philly. "That's in the past, but I do feel this is a terrible tragedy. It's just an awful, awful tragedy to have someone so young lose their life."

Reid was 23 when he hit Hartman's car with his own after running a red light in Plymouth Township. He admitted to being high on heroin at the time.

"You don't know what life is going to present you; you just hope you can handle it," Hartman said. "So, I hope people will pray for him and his family. I said a couple prayers for him today."

Paul Rosen, the attorney who represented Reid when he was found to have smuggled prescription pills into prison later that year, was shocked when he received word of his passing yesterday.

"I'm just very, very sad. He was a brilliant, loving son, and he fought hard to overcome addiction," Rosen said. "We all believed he was on sound footing and was looking forward to a future that he was entitled to finally have."

Reach Stephanie Farr at farrs@phillynews.com or 215-854-4225. Follow her on Twitter @FarFarrAway and read her blog PhillyConfidential.com.

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