LONDON (AP) — Darryl Anderson was drunk behind the wheel of his Audi SUV, had the gas pedal pressed to the floor and was running toward a car in front of him when he took a photo of its speedometer. The image showed a car in the foreground, a collision warning light on the dashboard and a speed of 227 km/h.
A moment later, he crashed into the car in the photo. The driver, Shalorna Warner, was not seriously injured, but her 8-month-old son and sister died instantly, authorities said. The evidence showed that Anderson never braked.
Anderson, 38, was sentenced on Tuesday to 17 years in prison for the May 31 crash in northern England that killed little Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. Anderson pleaded guilty last week at Durham Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Shalorna Warner told the court she remembered her Peugeot spinning, seeing her sister seriously injured and, when the car stopped, frantically trying to find her son, who had been ejected from the vehicle by the impact. A truck driver who stopped to help found him on the other side of the highway.
“I knew instantly. I had to pick up my dead baby from the side of the road. I hugged him so tightly, a hug I will never forget,” Warner said. “No words will overcome the irreparable hole that has been left in my heart and in my life.”
Anderson lied to the police, saying that a hitchhiker was driving at the time of the accident.
Prosecutor Emma Dowling said a roadside breath test showed Anderson was almost three times over the limit when driving after drinking. An empty vodka bottle was found in his car.
Witnesses later reported he drove dangerously for 20 miles and his phone showed he was texting.
At the police station, he told officers that he had hit the back of a car.
“Sometimes mistakes happen,” he said. “But I’m not a bad person.”
Judge Joanne Kidd, who banned Anderson from driving for 21 years after his release from prison, said he played Russian roulette and the accident was inevitable.
Defense lawyer Richard Dawson said Anderson, who was married with a daughter, was “deeply remorseful”.
Durham Detective Natalie Horner said police routinely remind drivers not to speed, use their phones behind the wheel and drive drunk.
“Darryl Anderson was doing all three of those things,” Horner said. “Anderson was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, but it is his victims and their families who were sentenced to life in prison.”
