KC man sentenced to 10 years in prison for 2017 Thanksgiving DWI crash that killed two
A Kansas City man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for causing a vehicular crash that killed two people on Thanksgiving 2017.
Deone E. Starr, 32, had previously pleaded guilty on April 4 to driving while intoxicated in the crash that killed Nelson Guzman-Cuellar and Normalina Erazo Chaconde-Perez of Kansas City, Kansas.
That wreck happened shortly after midnight when the Honda Pilot driven by Starr was traveling the wrong way southbound on Interstate 29 near NW Barry Road and struck the Honda CRV occupied by Guzman-Cuellar and Chaconde-Perez.
Chaconde-Perez and Guzman-Cuellar were pronounced dead at the scene. Starr was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries.
Chaconde-Perez and her husband were driving back from their job when they were killed in the crash. Erazo was three months pregnant, according to a GoFundMe page that was set up to raise money for their funerals.
A Platte County Sheriff’s deputy spotted Starr’s vehicle traveling at approximately 100 miles per hour, weaving in and out of traffic, moments before the crash.
While being treated at the hospital, Starr told Kansas City police that he had been drinking vodka during a Thanksgiving gathering at a friend’s house earlier that evening.
Starr told police that he did not remember how the crash happened or how he ended up on I-29, as his normal path home was I-470 to U.S. 71 to Parvin Road.
Police said Starr had a .125 blood alcohol content.
“There is absolutely no reason anyone should ever die as a result of driving while intoxicated,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said in a statement. “It is a completely preventable crime, which only requires people who have been drinking to decide not to get behind the wheel of a car.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2019 at 10:35 AM.
