BEAUMONT, Texas — A Mount Enterprise man has been sentenced for his role in a 2021 crash that killed three and injured one.
Chance Glyn Craddock, who was charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter, appeared before Judge John Stevens for a sentencing hearing Tuesday.
On Friday, May 21, 2021, Craddock was driving a Dodge truck north on Highway 82 when it crossed over into southbound traffic and struck a passenger vehicle.
The passenger vehicle overturned and came to rest next to the fence at the Valero refinery.
The deceased victims were identified as Eriana Washington, 14, Danny Nichols Jr., 32, and L'Amberia McDaniel, 35.
A child that was also in the car survived.
Craddock admitted to using drugs and drinking alcohol prior to the wreck.
Craddock received 20 years on each intoxication manslaughter charge as part of a plea deal. The sentences will run concurrently, meaning they'll run at the same time.
"There is no winning in any of this. Those people want their family back. Your family has lost you for a 20-year sentence. There is no way to fix this except to send a message that actions like this have strong consequences for those who are blameworthy," Judge Stevens said during the hearing.
During the hearing, Craddock sent his apologies to the family.
"I can't change anything that I've done to my mistakes. I wish it was me instead of them," he said.
Defense Attorney James says Craddock has put aside some $22,000 that he wants to somehow give to the surviving child under the new law that went into effect Sept. 1, 2023.
"I think some provisions can be made not only for that lump sum, but continuing child support," Makin said. "He has set up a scholarship at Lamar University, in the names of the deceased and funded it with his own money."
Prosecutor Mike Laird says Craddock mentioned to the officer he had double vision while he was driving.
"He knew he shouldn't have been safely behind the wheel. It wasn't because he was reckless. He was just about doing what he wanted to do and his intoxication got better of him," Laird said.
During victim impact statements, mother and grandmother, Lucy McDaniel, spoke.
"She loved her children unconditionally. Amber always had her kids with her everywhere she went. You will see them together," she said.
McDaniel says ten days before this accident, her daughter had just purchased her first home.
"I live this every day with her three kids over the past twenty-seven months. I had to go through this torture. Today I'm still nervous about it, I couldn't even drive and I wouldn't even have a car," McDaniel said.
In June 2021, Craddock had his bond lowered.
He was held on three $500 thousand bonds for a total of $1.5 million.
The defense attorney wanted to have the bond lowered to $50 thousand on each case.
"It is a very serious case,” Stevens previously said. “In 15 years as a judge here, I have tried numerous intoxication manslaughters and every jury decision was the maximum 20-year sentence, every one of them."
Craddock’s bond was lowered to $250 thousand on each case, and he is ordered to have an Interlock device, SCRAM device, must wear a drug patch and has home confinement in Jefferson County when he is not at work.
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