Proposed parish pipeline provides promise
May 3, 2011
Rebecca Cheramie
May 5, 2011The driver who caused a crash that killed two Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center employees and hospitalized two others was sentenced last Monday to 25 years in prison and handed a $15,000 fine.
Ronnie Rios, 27, of Houma, was driving a Chevrolet pickup on the two-lane Industrial Drive near the medical center on Oct. 15, 2010, when he swerved into oncoming traffic and struck a Honda Civic, in which the four Chabert employees were returning to work after lunch.
The driver of the Honda, Samantha Marcel, 44, of Chauvin and the front seat passenger, Lalisa Robinson, 35, of Houma were killed upon impact. The two remaining passengers, Sandra Burnet of Chauvin and Kara James of Houma, were critically injured and required extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Rios was handed his sentence by Judge Randy Bethancourt after entering a guilty plea to two counts of vehicular homicide, two counts of injury by first degree vehicular negligence and one count of vehicular negligence resulting in injury.
Blood tests revealed that Rios had Xanax in his system at the time of the crash.
