Drunk Driver Who Killed 2 Gets 30 Years

A Harbor City man, who killed two people in a 1984 drunk driving accident--including the daughter of a paramedic who had rushed to the scene, unaware that she was a victim--was sentenced Monday to 30 years to life in prison.

Steven Edwin Dull, 32, had been discharged from an alcohol rehabilitation program at Long Beach Memorial Hospital earlier in the day when he ran a red light in San Pedro and slammed into a sports car driven by Arturo Dorado, 23.

Dorado and his fiancee, Sherry Bandy, 20, died at the scene.

When paramedic Roger Bandy arrived at the scene, at 19th Street and Western Avenue, he immediately recognized his daughter’s crumpled car.

“My daughter and her boyfriend are dead,” Bandy radioed the Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher.

Dull, convicted of second-degree murder in the October, 1984, tragedy, was sentenced in Long Beach Superior Court to consecutive terms of 15 years to life in prison for each of the two deaths. He would be eligible for parole in 15 years.

Dull, authorities said, entered the intersection at 50 m.p.h. after swerving around another vehicle that had stopped for the red light. Just before the collision, Dull had been traveling at 90 m.p.h. on Western Avenue, bumping three times into the rear of a pickup truck but not causing any injuries.

When arrested, Dull’s blood alcohol reading was .19%, almost twice the legal maximum of .10% at which a driver is considered drunk.