Man said his friend was the driver in fatal wreck, officials say. Now he faces prison
A 22-year-old man in Alaska has been sentenced in the drunk driving crash that killed his friend, whom he originally blamed for the fatal wreck, prosecutors said.
Tyler Cordes told police that his friend, Drew Brown, was behind the wheel of the pickup that hit a snow bank, rolled and slammed into a telephone pole in Homer in December 2021, prosecutors said. But police later determined it actually was Cordes who was behind the wheel, officials said.
Cordes was sentenced Nov. 21 in a courtroom filled with members of his family and Brown’s family, the Alaska Department of Law wrote in a news release.
He’ll serve three years and four months in prison, plus seven years of probation, officials said. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, with 10 years and eight months suspended, prosecutors said.
The fatal wreck happened at about 10 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2021, on Sterling Highway in Homer, a small town that’s a roughly 223-mile drive southwest of Anchorage.
Brown, 25, was thrown from the pickup and died hours later at a hospital, officials said.
Two other passengers also were hurt in the wreck, including one who was hospitalized and another who had minor injuries, prosecutors said.
Cordes walked away unhurt, officials said.
He was indicted in September 2022 and arrested in Las Vegas, where he’d gone to live after the wreck, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in August to criminally negligent homicide, two counts of assault, and driving while intoxicated, officials said.
At the hearing, Cordes apologized and described Brown as a beautiful person, officials said.
Brown was a “gifted athlete” with a “contagious positive attitude,” who’d graduated from Homer High School in 2015 and worked on commercial fishing boats and in food service, his obituary said.
“He had an infectious smile and bounding energy that encouraged all to give their best effort no matter the circumstances. That energy endeared him to all who befriended him, and he had many friends. Drew was loved, respected and even revered by those he touched,” the obituary said.
At the sentencing hearing, “it was noted that this was one of the most serious criminal cases in Homer over the last several years. It was also hoped that this case could serve as a cautionary tale as it highlighted the dangers and potential seriousness of drunk driving as one young man lost his life and another was sentenced to prison,” Assistant District Attorney Jon Iannaccone said in the release.
Judge Bride Seifert gave credit to Cordes for accepting responsibility, prosecutors said.
This story was originally published November 25, 2024 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Man said his friend was the driver in fatal wreck, officials say. Now he faces prison."
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