Driver Charged With Reckless Driving in Strobel Death

The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office announced today that the driver of the pickup truck that fatally struck radio icon Brian Strobel was charged with reckless driving.

Ralph T. Rapillo, 42, was served with the warrant on April 5.

"Senior Deputy John Slate of the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Unit conducted a thorough investigation examining all facets of the case and consulting with the Spotsylvania Commonwealth Attorney’s Office before deciding to move forward with the charge of reckless driving," said Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Harvey.

Harvey said the crash was called in to 911 at 4:50 p.m. Strobel was walking a pug-dog named "Frank" and a Nissan pickup traveling south on Kingswood Boulevard left the road to the right, hit a mailbox and then Strobel.

Strobel, 65, died at the scene. The dog survived. Harvey said Rapillo called 911, but he declined to speak to investigators about what happened, which was within his rights.

Harvey would not discuss specifics of how Rapillo lost control of his vehicle, only to say that the evidence will be brought up in court. Harvey did say that investigators checked Rapillo's phone records.

"There was a cell phone in the car, but there is no evidence at this time that he was actually on the phone during the time of the crash," Harvey said. "That was the hold up on charging him because we were waiting to get record backs."