Ex-Football Player Sentenced in Fireman’s Car-Crash Death
A former La Canada High School football player has been sentenced to a year in prison and nine months probation for killing a U. S. Forest Service fireman in an auto collision in which the suspect was found to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
Scott Crebs, 22, pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree murder in Pasadena Superior Court last week and was sentenced by Judge Coleman A. Swart in the death of Kenneth Burton, 35, of Leona Valley.
A $5-million lawsuit alleging wrongful death, filed by Burton’s former wife, Dawn Burton-Snyder, is still pending.
Crebs and two friends were returning from a ski trip on Nov. 16, 1985, when his pickup truck strayed into the oncoming lane around a blind curve and hit Burton’s car, said Chesley McKay, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case. McKay said tests showed that Crebs had a .14 blood alcohol level 2 1/2 hours after the accident, making him drunk under California law.
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