Drunk Driver Gets Prison in Fatal Crash

A drunk driver who caused an accident in which one man was killed and another was seriously injured was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.

Theresa Tannatt, 26, of Northridge sobbed as Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp sentenced her in the July 3, 1987, crash that killed Pedro Dias, 39, and injured his brother, Pedro Hernandez, 33, both of Sylmar.

Tannatt told police she had been drinking Kahlua and vodka shortly before her car plowed across the center divider and struck the car Dias was driving. Hernandez was a passenger in the car.

Tannatt had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18%--nearly twice the legal limit in California--after the crash, a Los Angeles police report said.

Tannatt was hospitalized with injuries that included two broken legs, a broken collarbone and the loss of four teeth, police said.

Tannatt was originally charged with one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol, causing injury and drunk driving.

She pleaded guilty April 21 to one count of gross vehicular manslaughter after a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Her attorney, Nancy Gast, asked that Tannatt be put on probation, which was recommended by the Los Angeles County Probation Department. Her probation report noted that three weeks before the accident, Tannatt’s father committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in Tannatt’s presence.

Tannatt entered an alcohol-rehabilitation facility in January and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five days a week, the report said. She had no prior drunk-driving arrests.

Schempp noted, however, that Tannatt continued to drink after the accident even though she knew she had caused someone’s death. She was arrested for assaulting her sister in an alcohol-related incident, the judge said. No charges were filed in that case, authorities said.

Tannatt, who was given time to get her affairs in order, was ordered to begin serving her sentence July 29.

After the court session, Tannatt said she was shocked by the sentence. But she added: “I know I have to make amends for what I did.”