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Drunk driver gets 20 years in fatal crash at Makaha bus stop

STAR-ADVERTISER / APRIL 2012
Potasi Uta, left, spoke with his attorney at his initial court appearance. Uta will begin serving his 20-year sentence for negligent homicide and fleeing the scene of a crash after he completes the remaining time he has left on a 10-year term for a 2004 burglary conviction.

The drunk driver who plowed into a bus stop shelter, killing a 3-year-old boy and injuring four of the boy’s family members, was sentenced in state court this morning to 20 years in prison for negligent homicide and fleeing the scene of a crash.

Potasi S. Uta, Jr., 44, agreed to the terms when he pleaded guilty in September. He will begin serving the sentence after he completes the remaining time he has left on a 10-year term for a 2004 burglary conviction.

Ashton Brown died in the March 28 crash at a Makaha bus stop. Brown’s mother, two older sisters and an older brother suffered leg fractures and other injuries.

Uta’s blood alcohol content 3 1/2 hours after the crash was 0.16, twice the legal threshold for drunk driving.

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