An Everett man was sentenced to more than four years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide.
Kelly C. Nickell, 29, was also found guilty of running away from the scene of the fatal accident, which happened June 6 on N. Machias Road. He called for help for his friend before he fled.
He accepted responsibility for his friend’s death.
“I will live with it for the rest of my life,” he told Snohomish County Superior Court Judge George Bowden.
Nickell was behind the wheel of a 1990 Ford Taurus. Riding with him were his friend Chauncey Shields, 25, of Lynnwood and Shields’ girlfriend, who was pregnant.
Prosecutors agreed to the low end of the sentencing range in part because Nickell took responsibility and pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide.
A witness told police that Nickell had been drinking beer about 1 hours before the collision, and investigators found beer bottles in the Taurus.
A witness said Nickell’s vehicle had been driving erratically prior to the crash, speeding up, tailgating and slowing down. The Taurus suddenly swerved around as if to pass and drove headlong into an oncoming tow truck.
The tow truck driver also was injured.
Nickell has convictions in Colorado for burglary and drug possession in the late 1990s, as well as several driving infractions more recently in Snohomish County, according to court records.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.
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