Probation ordered in street racing crash that killed 94-year-old pastor & dairy farmer
Participating in an illegal street racing incident that culminated in a deadly wreck that killed a 94-year-old pastor and dairy farmer out for a Saturday afternoon drive with his great-grandson earned a Wichita man probation at his sentencing hearing last week.
Brandon Carrera, who Wichita police have said was racing his truck down 17th and West Streets against a teenage friend on Aug. 29, 2020, was ordered to serve three years of probation plus 90 days of house arrest in connection with the crash that killed Ralph Hunt Jr. of Wichita, said Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
The sentence, handed down March 28, carries an underlying prison term of 32 months, which Carrera could be ordered to serve if he fails to follow the conditions of his probation.
Carrera pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated battery on Jan. 18. Police have said the racing Chevrolet Silverado trucks were speeding on southbound West Street around 3:15 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2020, when they crashed into Hunt’s Lincoln Town Car at twice the posted speed limit of 40 mph.
In addition to killing Hunt, the force of the impact seriously injured his 15-year-old great-grandson, who was in his passenger seat. The teen suffered a broken neck, collarbone, ribs and hips and ruptured several internal organs, an affidavit released by the court says.
Sedgwick County District Judge Bruce Brown followed the plea agreement negotiated between prosecutors and Carrera’s lawyer that recommended probation. But he ordered the 23-year-old serve 90 days of house arrest instead of the 60-day jail sanction prosecutors had planned to ask for, according to Dillon and court records.
Under house arrest, Carrera is “authorized to go to work” but otherwise “has to stay home,” Dillon said by email.
Carrera’s defense attorney, Steven Mank, argued in a March 27 motion for so-called “border box findings” that a probation sentence was “in the interest of justice” and served “community safety interests by promoting offender reformation.” Kansas law makes no recommendation between probation and imprisonment when charges fall into the border box of the state’s sentencing grid; it’s up to a judge to decide.
The teenage driver who was racing against Carrera last summer was placed on intensive supervision for six months after pleading no contest in April 2021 to once count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated battery, court records show. The Eagle is not naming him because he was adjudicated in juvenile court.
The boy, who is an adult now, was also ordered to perform 20 hours of community service and write an apology letter to the victims’ families, according to court records.
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 2:34 PM.
