PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — A Florida Panhandle man has pleaded no contest to a fatal drunken driving crash.
The Panama City News Herald reports that 20-year-old Brent Alexander Taylor entered the DUI manslaughter plea last week without a deal in place. A judge can sentence Taylor up to 15 years in prison at a Feb. 4 hearing.
The Florida Highway Patrol reports that Taylor's SUV hit a parked motorcyclist, 33-year-old James Thorndyke, in December 2014 and continued about 1,000 feet up the road before pulling over. Taylor later told troopers he didn't realize he had hit anything.
The trooper reported smelling alcohol on Taylor, who failed a series of field sobriety tests.
