CLAYTON • A drunk driver who refused to stop for police and ran a red light last year has been sentenced to eight years in prison for killing a motorist in the flaming collision that resulted.
Dwayne McClendon, 24, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in July of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jeanine Y. Hollmon in unincorporated north St. Louis County. There was no sentencing deal with prosecutors, leaving him to face a possible term of five to 15 years.
McClendon was sentenced Thursday to eight years for the death and seven years on each of two counts of second-degree assault. The assault charges stem from injuries to two women riding with McClendon.
Judge Michael T. Jamison, ordered concurrent terms, so McClendon will be eligible for parole in less than seven years.
The crash happened early on Oct. 30 at Halls Ferry and Lucas & Hunt roads.
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Patrick Monahan, an assistant prosecuting attorney, said a county police officer who had just gotten off duty was driving north on Halls Ferry Road when he saw McClendon speed past going south at what radar showed was 64 mph in a zone posted for 35 or 40. The officer turned on his warning lights and turned around, then saw McClendon speed up and a "giant explosion," Monahan said.
McClendon had hit Hollmon, 43, a business owner on her way home from a friend's house. She was about five minutes from home when she stopped on Lucas & Hunt, turned left onto Halls Ferry and was struck. Her car burst into flames from the impact.
Witnesses, including the officer, broke a window on her vehicle but were unable to pull her out before the flames forced them back, Monahan said.
McClendon's attorney, Nick Zotos, said McClendon and the two women in his car had been at a nightclub. Zotos said McClendon was at the wheel because the women were too drunk to drive.
Monahan said McClendon acknowledged being drunk as well.
"He admitted he was drunk at the scene," Monahan said. "When they drug him out of the car, he said he wasn't going to stop because he didn't want a DWI."
Officials said McClendon's blood alcohol level was 0.10 percent, above Missouri's limit of 0.08 percent.
McClendon lives in the 4100 block of Newstead Avenue in St. Louis. Zotos said he had no previous convictions.
Hollmon's daughter, Tara Williams, and Hollmon's mother, Gwendolyn Williams, both spoke at Thursday's sentencing in St. Louis County Circuit Court. They said they are Christians and were taught to forgive.
"We forgive him, but I hope with his incarceration, he'll be able to truly learn from his mistake," said Tara Williams, 29, of north St. Louis County.
Jeanine Hollmon is survived by another child, a son now 22. She owned Healthy Choices, a food service for school districts.
"She was very much of a Christian, and her dreams were always to feed the children, and she ran her business as a Christian," Gwendolyn Williams said. She added: "There's nothing to erase that horrible pain of losing a child. She was my only child and my best friend."
Robert Patrick of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
