A man in a Seattle courtroom cried out Wednesday to the family of a Lake Stevens man he killed in a drunken-driving accident in June.
"I’m sorry," Shawn Patrick Bray said to the family of 46-year-old Roger C. Wood. "I’m so sorry. I will not let Roger’s life be in vain."
His remorse seemed genuine, King County Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf said. But that would not bring Wood back. Alsdorf sentenced 26-year-old Bray to four years in prison for vehicular homicide.
"Whatever the law can do is not enough," the judge said. "We can’t bring back Mr. Wood if we tried."
After the sentencing, the family protested.
"The guy with good behavior will be out in 2 1/2years. It’s ridiculous," said Wood’s brother, Paul.
"The guy should go away for the same amount of time as if he shot somebody."
Emotion filled the courtroom as two families wept over Bray’s "absolutely and totally irresponsible" actions, as the judge put it. Immediately after the hearing, corrections officers handcuffed Bray and led him to jail as his wife and 2-year-old daughter watched.
The collision occurred about 3:30 p.m. June 20 in the southbound lanes of I-405 just south of NE 160th Street in Bothell.
At least three witnesses told Washington State Patrol troopers that Bray’s 1988 Plymouth Voyager minivan had been recklessly tailgating other vehicles and racing between lanes through afternoon rush-hour traffic as far back as Highway 522.
They said the minivan made a sudden, sharp change to the center lane and then swerved to the far right lane behind a slower moving truck.
Bray tried to pass the truck on the right shoulder and ended up behind a stopped Ford F350 pickup towing a trailer. Bray slammed into the trailer, and the sudden impact jackknifed the truck and trailer.
Moments before the impact, Wood had stepped out of the passenger side of the pickup to secure the loaded trailer, which was on its way to the dump. The impact sent Wood through the rear canopy of the pickup. He was dead when troopers arrived.
Troopers found a shirtless Bray dazed and wandering about the wreckage. Bray greeted troopers, saying he was "being stupid." His slurred speech and "thousand-yard stare" made them suspect he had been drinking.
A blood-alcohol content test about 25 minutes after the crash indicated 0.17 percent. The legal limit is 0.08. Inside his minivan, troopers found two containers of alcohol, a small pipe and a box containing marijuana residue.
Agreeing with a prosecutor’s recommendation, Alsdorf sentenced Bray to the top of the standard range of 36 to 48 months. Bray has two previous convictions for driving with a suspended license and a juvenile conviction for burglary.
In addition to prison time, Bray will have to pay compensation to Wood’s family, a $1,000 emergency services fee, as well as other fines and fees. When he leaves prison, he must spend a year on probation during which he will be required to undergo drug and alcohol treatment and appear before a DUI victims panel.
After a yearlong suspension of his driver’s license, he will be permitted to drive again only with a breath-activated ignition interlock device for another year.
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