Driver sentenced in 2021 DUI crash that killed 3 from Idaho
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A driver accused of causing a triple-fatal DUI crash in Nevada’s Nye County has been sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday that Tyler Kennedy received 8 to 20 years for each of three counts of DUI causing death, with the sentences to run consecutively.
Authorities said Kennedy’s pickup truck collided with an SUV driven by Idaho resident Michael Durmeier on U.S. Highway 95 near Beatty on March 27, 2021.
They say Durmeier, his fiancée and his 12-year-old daughter all died in the crash. Two other children in the SUV were injured but survived.
Prosecutors say the 34-year-old Kennedy pleaded guilty to the three counts of DUI.
The Review-Journal reported that Kennedy admitted to years of addiction to opioids in court records and on police bodycam video.
County sheriff’s deputies had questioned and released Kennedy about an hour before the crash at a rest stop despite finding evidence of drug use in his truck and noticing he “was probably under the influence,” according to police bodycam video.
