Wagner to pay Cleveland's $7K deductible

Michael Wagner agreed in Justice Court on Tuesday to pay the $7,000 medical deductible as a result of the Nov. 16 accidental shooting of John Cleveland.

It’s undetermined whether Wagner this will be the last payment made by Wagner for the deer-hunting accident.

“I don’t know that I can say,” Cleveland said Thursday morning when asked whether he is considering civil action. “It’s going to take me a long time to get focused, get myself back into action. I do acknowledge his help in getting me out.”

To date, there has not been any civil action filed against Wagner for the .30-caliber rifle-bullet wound to Cleveland’s upper thigh. Cleveland said he has heard second-hand accounts of Wagner’s remorse.

“Yes, I’ve heard that,” Cleveland said. “I realize he had done things to help save my life.”

After he was wounded, Cleveland applied a tourniquet to his thigh.Wagner assisted Cleveland after the shooting. He also ran back to his truck, shot locks off gates to gain road access to Cleveland, stopped at a home to call St. John’s Lutheran Hospital and then met an ambulance that transported Cleveland to the hospital.

While sitting with Travelers’ Insurance agent Will Ballew in Lincoln County Justice Court on Tuesday, Wagner agreed to pay the $7,000 not covered by Cleveland’s medical insurance.

“I’m suspecting that Travelers is going to pay that $7,000?” Justice of the Peace Jay Sheffield asked.

Wagner nodded and Ballew confirmed payment would come this month.

“We’re thinking in a couple of weeks,” Ballew said.

Lincoln County Attorney Bernie Cassidy initially said Wagner and his insurance company initially had up to 18 months to pay, but moving forward that timeline has diminished to 17 months.

Ballew assured the check would not take that long, and Sheffield advised Wagner and Ballew to work out the logistics of the payment with Justice Court clerks.

A somber Wagner said nothing audible and nodded as Ballew confirmed Travelers Insurance would pay the medical-bill deductible owed by Cleveland.

The entire hearing, which was attended by Wagner family members, lasted just more than nine minutes.

In January, Wagner pleaded guilty to negligent endangerment in the shooting of Cleveland and to unlawful hunting from a roadway. Sheffield handed down a sentence to Wagner that includes a $535 fine for the negligent-endangerment conviction and a $235 fine for the conviction of hunting from a roadway.

Wagner also received a 365-day jail term on the charge of negligent endangerment, all but 20 days of which was suspended. On the charge of unlawful hunting from a roadway, Wagner was sentenced to 180 days, all but 20 days of that sentence also was suspended. He was allowed to serve the 20-day sentences concurrently during two-day weekend stays in the jail. Wagner’s hunting, trapping and fishing privileges were suspended for five years.

Cleveland said much has been made of him not wearing orange that day.

“I wasn’t wearing orange because I wasn’t hunting,” Cleveland said. “I was out walking on my property. I planned to hunt later that day. When shot, I was deep into my own property. I felt no need to wear orange.”