Man sentenced in fatal car crash
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 12 years, 9 months AGO
THOMPSON FALLS - A Thompson Falls man was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Tuesday for his role in a crash that left two people dead.
Lance Pavlik, a prominent member of the Thompson Falls community, vice-chair on the Thompson Falls School Board, and the former golf coach, received a 30-year sentence, with 20 suspended, from Sanders County Judge C.B. McNeil.
Pavlik pleaded guilty to four felony counts in January following the investigation of the Sept. 8 accident that took the lives of Christina Jackson, 23, and Jeremiah Bennett, 32. He was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of criminal endangerment.
The two-vehicle, head-on collision took place at 11:37 p.m. on Prospect Creek Road in Thompson Falls. Investigators found Pavlik, who was driving a pickup truck, had a .245 BAC at the time of the crash.
Bennett's children, Mya and Abel, were also injured in the collision.
Shortly after Bennett was transported to CFVH, he was pronounced dead. Jackson was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Sanders County Courthouse was filled to capacity as the sentencing took place, with dozens of people waiting in the hallway.
After the sentence, tears were seen streaming down the faces of some of those leaving the courtroom. Shirts reading "remember" were also seen, with Christina Jackson and Jeremiah Bennett's picture on them.