An Anne Arundel County man who was drunk and high on drugs when he caused a crash that killed three dialysis patients was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison, amid emotional pleas from the victims' families for a more substantial punishment.
Judge Paul A. Hackner sentenced Fontaine Pridgett, 47, of Cape St. Claire to 15 years in prison with all but five years suspended and five years of supervised probation - a slightly harsher sentence than prosecutors had requested for the three counts of homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated.
"What you did was not just a negligent act," Hackner said. "What you did was a significant step beyond that. ... You consumed alcohol. ... You went into a car that shouldn't have been driven."
Pridgett pleaded guilty last month in a plea agreement after prosecutors dropped charges of negligent auto manslaughter, which could have sent him to prison for up to 30 years.
Pridgett initially denied he was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash Dec. 30, 2006, which enabled him to avoid submitting to blood-alcohol level testing. Witnesses initially identified Pridgett's passenger, Jason Robert Dehn, as the driver. Charges against him were later dropped.
Pridgett was high on crack and had been drinking in the hours when he and Dehn stole a 1993 Mercedes Benz. Dehn refused to drive because the brakes had failed.
Pridgett lost control of the car in Annapolis and sped into the path of a van transporting four people to dialysis treatment. The pair ran from the scene of the crash. Terry Wayne Wright Sr., 56, Mary Agnes Davis, 48, and Mary Rawlings, 65, died as a result of the collision.
"The ball was put in his court," Assistant State's Attorney Shelly Glenn said. "His cohort said, 'OK, this car is not safe to drive' ... and the defendant took it upon himself and said ... 'I'll drive.' And that's why these people are suffering here today. It was clearly a voluntary choice."
nicole.fuller@baltsun.com