Wichitan in fatal crash who had twice the legal alcohol limit is now headed to prison
A 37-year-old Wichita man who had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system during a 2019 fatal crash in east Wichita is headed to prison, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.
Jeremy Deshawn Crowder was sentenced Tuesday morning to five years in prison in connection to the March 19, 2019, fatal crash at Kellogg and Webb that killed 57-year-old Yvonne Recchio. Crowder, who police say ran a red light, pleaded guilty in May to involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence and two counts of aggravated battery.
The crash was reported around 10:52 p.m. on March 19, 2019, at the Kellogg and Webb intersection.
Investigators determined a white 2003 GMC Yukon Denali, driven by Crowder, was southbound on Webb when it collided with the driver’s side of a black Honda CR-V that had been eastbound on Kellogg.
Recchio was a backseat passenger in the Honda CR-V. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:08 p.m. An autopsy determined she died from multiple blunt force injuries, and listed her death as accidental.
Officers could smell alcohol when talking with Crowder, he had bloodshot and watery eyes and he was processing slowly, a Wichita police detective wrote in an affidavit. He told police that he had consumed alcohol at home before driving, the document said.
Crowder failed two of three field sobriety tests and was one point away from failing the one he passed. He refused to submit to a blood test, so officers obtained a search warrant for his blood. The blood was taken at 1:39 a.m. and 1:57 a.m. at Wesley Medical Center. Testing at the forensic science center showed his blood alcohol concentration was 0.178, far higher than the Kansas legal limit of a BAC of 0.07 below.
It is unclear in the affidavit if the BAC was the level measured when the blood samples were taken more than two and a half hours after the crash, or if calculations determined the BAC at the time of the crash.
Contributing: Former Eagle reporter Jason Tidd
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 1:33 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified how long Jeremy Crowder had been sentenced. He was sentenced to five years in prison.