KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A drunk driver who killed a man working in a ditch was sentenced to 11 years in prison Thursday in Platte County Court.
Wesley William Teague, 39, of Rushville, Missouri, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated causing the death of another person, according to a news release from the Platte County Prosecutor's Office.
The crash happened about 6:45 p.m. on May 23, 2023, as Stephen Anderson was trimming grass in a ditch on Route M north of East Dye Road in Platte County.
Teague was driving a 2023 Chevrolet Camaro when he ran off the road and the car struck Anderson.
Anderson died at the scene.
Law officers arrested Teague and a breath test revealed he was drunk, according to the news release.
Teague said he drank two beers and smoked marijuana before the fatal crash.
"This case is yet another tragic reminder of the dangers of drunk and drugged driving," Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said in a statement. "A young man who was a husband, son, and father died because another person chose to drive a car after using marijuana and drinking. There's no excuse for getting behind the wheel stoned or drunk, and it's only right that this defendant was sentenced to more than a decade in prison."
Anderson was married and had four children.
"Words cannot even begin to express the impact and change [our son's] death has had on our lives, our daughter-in-law, our daughters, our sons-in-law, and our grandchildren's lives--especially the lives of his four children," his parents said at the sentencing.
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