Sioux Center,IA : Man sentenced to 10 years prison for fatal crash on September, Thursday 28th 2017

Every time she sees young men out and about, Norma Sanchez said she sees her son, Miguel.

She cries every day because she will never see him again. Since Miguel Silvas-Sanchez was killed in a vehicle wreck on Sanchez said she has had trouble sleeping and is afraid to drive.

Sanchez on Thursday told Eduardo Herrera, the driver in the fatal crash, that she waits for her son to come home every day and every night.

"My son was my whole life. He was my baby," Sanchez shouted through heavy sobs, holding her forehead in her hand. "(Herrera) didn't just kill my son, he killed me and the rest of my family."

Herrera, 19, of Sioux City, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in Woodbury County District Court to vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Crash investigators said he was traveling 76 mph -- 50 miles over the speed limit -- when the Chevrolet Cavalier he was driving struck a parked minivan in the 1500 block of West Second Street and ejected Silvas-Sanchez, 17, of South Sioux City, through the windshield and onto the ground.

Herrera, who declined to say anything when given his chance to speak before District Judge Steven Andreasen announced his sentence, said when pleading guilty to the charges that he did not know what to do after watching his friend go through the windshield.

"When I saw him there on the ground, I was shocked and I was scared. I didn't know what to do, so I left," Herrera said.

Herrera's sentence was spelled out in a plea agreement in which lawyers on both sides agreed that the 10-year prison sentence for vehicular homicide and five-year sentence for leaving the scene would be served at the same time rather than back to back. Herrera must serve seven years of the sentence before he's eligible for parole. He also must pay $150,000 in restitution to the estate of Silvas-Sanchez.

Police said Herrera left the crash scene on foot and went home. He was arrested and charged nearly six months after the incident, in which a back-seat passenger also suffered minor injuries. Court documents said that Herrera was intoxicated at the time of the crash.



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Man sentenced to 10 years prison for fatal crash