Ryan Koss revealed he was “friends” with Treat Williams before their road collision resulted in Williams’ death.
The Vermont State Police announced on Tuesday, August 1, that Koss has been charged with grossly negligent operation with death resulting. According to the VSP, Koss was driving a Honda Element SUV that turned into the path of Williams’ motorcycle on June 12. The Everwood alum was taken to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, for critical injuries, where he later died. His official cause of death was severe trauma and blood loss. Williams was 71.
Koss released a statement on Friday, August 4, days after he voluntarily met with officials to be processed and charged. Koss is “confident the facts will show I obeyed all relevant traffic laws, and the State’s charges are unwarranted,” he said via his attorney Ian Carleton of Sheehey Furlong & Behm.
Koss is the managing creative director of Dorset Theatre Festival, according to Manchester Journal, which Williams participated in several times.
“I am devastated by Mr. Williams’s tragic passing,” Koss said in his statement. “I have known Treat for years, both as a member of this tight-knit community and fellow theater maker. I considered him a friend. I know his family feels his sudden loss even more deeply than I do, and I offer my sincerest condolences to them.”
Williams is survived by his wife of 35 years, Pam Van Sant, and their children Gill Williams, 31, and Elinor “Ellie” Williams, 25. The Hair star’s daughter shared a tribute to her father via social media the day after his death.
“This is a pain I have never felt. I am absolutely shattered,” Ellie, 25, wrote via her Instagram Story on Tuesday, June 13, sharing a throwback photo of Treat and a second snap of a jacket with his name embroidered on it. “Thank you to everyone who has sent messages and kept our family in your hearts during this terrible heartbreak.”
The actor’s death was confirmed by his rep hours earlier. “He was killed this afternoon. He was making a left or a right [and] a car cut him off,” Treat’s rep, Barry McPherson, told Us Weekly in a statement at the time. “I’m just devastated. He was the nicest guy. He was so talented.”
Following his passing, Williams’ family and friends mourned him at an intimate memorial service on June 19 in Vermont, where he resided for many years.
