Drunk Driver Involved in Fatal Crash Gets 5 Years

A drunk driver who killed a 19-year-old baseball star last year in a head-on crash in Santa Clarita was sentenced Tuesday to five years in state prison.

Michael Charles Glover, 45, of Saugus pleaded guilty Dec. 7 to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol in the death of Nolan LeMar, a co-captain of the College of the Canyons baseball team who hoped to play professionally one day.

LeMar died at the scene of the April 9 crash on Soledad Canyon Road after Glover’s pickup crossed the median and slammed into LeMar’s oncoming sport utility vehicle.

LeMar was one of two students injured in a November 1998 science class explosion at William S. Hart High School in Newhall, suffering second-degree burns over 12% of his body. He battled hard to recover so he could play baseball again, his coaches said after the crash, and helped Hart win the 1999 Southern Section Division II championship.

Tuesday’s emotional hearing was attended by more than a dozen friends and family members of both Glover and LeMar, among them LeMar’s father Dean, whose written statement was read in court: “He took my precious son, my best friend and my dreams for him. Life will never be the same.”

Glover, a cabinetmaker, apologized to the LeMar family and to his own, saying he was sorry for the pain he had caused.

Glover, who had been free on $100,000 bail, was taken into custody immediately after the sentencing hearing in San Fernando Superior Court. He must serve at least 85% of the prison term, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lori Dery said.