Drunk Driver Who Killed Passenger Gets 9 Years In Prison
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) -- An Aurora man with two previous convictions related to drinking and driving has been sentenced to nine years in prison for driving drunk and causing a deadly crash in 2017. Dennis Flowers, 56, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide DUI and was given the maximum sentence allowed under the terms of his plea agreement.
Kyana Ingram, who was 22, was a passenger in the car and died from her injuries. Flowers had picked up Ingram when she got off work from her job at Children's Hospital.
Flowers was driving on East Mississippi at about 2 a.m. on Aug. 15, 2017, when he crossed the median, jumped the curb and hit a light pole, then a tree.
Ingram was thrown from the SUV and died. Flowers was not injured.
Tests determined his blood alcohol level was above 0.2 at the time of the crash.
"Another drunk driver, another dead member of our community. One of the most preventable crimes and deadly outcomes in society continues to be perpetrated repeatedly by the selfish and irresponsible. We are weary of the excuse that such repeat drunk drivers are in need of more treatment. They are in need of more personal responsibility and less liberty," said District Attorney George Brauchler.
Flowers had two previous convictions for driving while ability impaired.
"If your drunk driving kills someone, you should go to prison. This defendant was given opportunities at rehabilitation in both of his prior drunk driving cases. He failed to take advantage of those opportunities, continued drinking, continued driving under the influence, and finally proved the lethality of that conduct," Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro said. "The defendant's reckless and selfish choices extinguished the life of a young woman who should have had decades more with loved ones and friends. It was a completely preventable tragedy."
