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MO Police Officer Kills 4 in Drunk Driving Accident

By Meyerkord & Meyerkord Mar. 11, 2011 4:21p

Clayton, Mo. – A St. Louis police officer was sentenced to just 8 years in prison after killing four innocent people from India in an off-duty drunken driving accident. The lone survivor and the prosecutor are appalled at the short sentence the former police officer received.

Christine Miller, age 43, pleaded guilty this last December to four counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of second-degree assault. As St. Louis County Judge Michael Jamison handed down her sentence, Miller tearfully apologized to relatives of the deceased in the packed court room.

Miller received an eight year sentence for each manslaughter count and a seven year term on the assault charge, with the sentences running concurrently. Miller could be released on probation in as early as seven years. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch was very disappointed with the sentence. He had recommended a 20-year term.

Miller, a 12-year veteran of the Sunset Hills police department, had been drinking at O’Leary’s Bar & Restaurant in southwest St. Louis County before the crash. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s accident report, Miller was driving her Mitsubishi in the wrong lane when she struck a Honda driven by Adusumilli, 27, of Ballwin, Mo... Adusumilli was seriously injured, but he survived. His four passengers were not so fortunate.

A receipt from O’Leary’s was found in Millers car, showing that she had purchased 5 Cosmopolitans. According to prosecutors, each drink consisted of two-and-a-half shots. 41 minutes after the wreck, Millers blood alcohol concentration was 0.229 at the hospital.

O’Leary’s and Miller have agreed to pay $2.3 million to the families of the crash victims. The amount awarded was the limit of both of their insurance policies, with Miller paying $255,000 and O’Leary’s picking up the rest. If you have been injured in a drunk driving accident or, any other auto accident, contact a St. Louis personal injury attorney today.