Sailor sentenced for deadly Coronado Bridge accident

By

The Associated Press

Police stand near the pickup truck that landed at Chicano Park after it flew off a ramp to the San Diego Coronado Bridge in San Diego on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016. Four people were killed and nine were injured on Saturday after an out-of-control pickup truck plunged off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and plowed into crowd gathered at a festival below, authorities said. (Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Navy sailor whose pickup truck plunged off a bridge into a San Diego park, killing four people, has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison.

Richard Sepolio, who wore his Navy uniform, apologized for the crash during his sentencing Thursday.

Prosecutors said Sepolio was doing more than 80 mph when his truck plunged over the Coronado Bridge in October 2016. It dropped about 60 feet onto crowded Chicano Park.

Four people died and seven were injured.

Prosecutors say Sepolio had been drinking and was arguing with his then-girlfriend by phone moments before the accident.

Sepolio testified that he lost control of the car while merging in traffic from a transition ramp.

The 27-year-old was convicted in February of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury.

Navy Times: The AP lists him as a petty officer but provided no picture of him in uniform. At the time of the incident he was a third class aviation electronics technician.