Lexington motorcyclist killed day after his 46th anniversary. Woman sentenced on DUI
The woman who killed a motorcyclist a day after his wedding anniversary was given a heavy sentence by a judge in Lexington County.
Judge DeAndrea Benjamin on Friday sentenced 55-year-old Catherine Crumley to 21 years in prison with no parole for the death of Larry Williams.
The fatal crash happened about 10:50 a.m. April 16, 2017, officials said.
Williams, a 65-year-old husband and father, was riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle that morning on Old Barnwell Road. Crumley, headed in the opposite direction, drifted into the opposing lane near the 700 block of Old Barnwell, striking Williams head-on and hitting another SUV, according to a prosecutor with the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Williams died at the scene, officials said.
South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers noticed Crumley had slurred speech, sagging eyelids and constricted pupils. A field sobriety test was done and she couldn’t recite the alphabet, Eleventh Circuit Assistant Solicitor Todd Wagoner said in a statement. She told troopers she was on several types of medication, and paramedics took her to the hospital, records show.
Blood sample results sent to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division showed Crumley had the opioid Hydrocodone and the anti-anxiety, anti-seizure medication Klonopin in her blood, Wagoner said.
Police charged Crumley with felony DUI resulting in death. She paid a $20,000 bond and was released from Lexington County Detention Center.
In August 2018, Crumley pleaded guilty without negotiations to being intoxicated when she ran into and killed Williams, Wagoner said. She was jailed again while a pre-sentencing report was prepared for Judge Benjamin. After spending a year in jail, Crumley received her two-decade sentence in a Lexington County courtroom.
“This case is a tragic reminder of the dangers of prescription drug misuse,” Wagoner said. “Crumley made a poor decision and it cost Larry Williams his life.”
After the hearing, Williams’ widow Deborah said offenders need to be held “accountable for crimes and the damage forever done to people’s lives.”
“We, the justice system, have won a great battle here today,” she said. “There are no words to express the amount of gratitude that we have for this day. We have all prayed for justice to be done.”
Crumley is being held at Lexington County Detention Center waiting to be transferred to a South Carolina Department of Corrections prison.
Felony DUI resulting in death is punishable with a maximum of 25 years imprisonment and a fine of $10,100.
The Williams family sued Crumley in civil for the wrongful death in December 2017. Court records show Deborah Williams was awarded a settlement of over $437,000 in April 2018, a year after her husband’s death.
Williams was killed a day after he and his wife celebrated their 46th anniversary.