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Saturday, December 10, 2016

Cries, prayer fill courtroom at sentencing for driver in fatal Md. crash

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A young man who had a few speeding tickets on his record will spend the next 12 years in prison after one out of control joy ride took the lives of three people.

Emotions ran raw in the Montgomery County Circuit courtroom Friday afternoon as Judge Mary Beth McCormick sentenced 21-year-old Ogulcan Atakoglu to 30 years in prison, with all but 12 years suspended. He’ll have five years probation; three of which he can’t drive. And once he gets out, he’ll serve 150 hours of community service to impress upon teens the importance of driving safely.

Atakoglu’s feelings of invincibility, in his words, led him to drive so recklessly that prosecutors say he slammed into Helena Buarque de Macedo’s family car like a bullet. He was traveling down River Road at 115 mph in a 45 mph zone, breaking only 2.5 seconds before impact, according to court documents.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a small price to pay for speeding that resulted in three deaths.

Anonymous said...

It is not a small price to pay.
It is a price to pay.

I would hate to do 12 years in a prison.

He will never do this again, I feel pretty certain about it.