A Tennessee man has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for being legally drunk and speeding in a vehicle crash that killed an off-duty police officer.
Marquell Griffin, 53, was sentenced Friday for the March 2019 death of Memphis police Lt. Myron Fair, the Shelby County district attorney’s office said.
Griffin pleaded guilty in July to aggravated vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident and possession of a controlled substance.
Fair had just left work and was waiting at a Memphis intersection when Griffin’s SUV struck Fair’s car from behind, causing it to flip and roll over.
Investigators found the SUV was traveling 117 miles per hour 5 seconds before the crash, and 94 miles per hour at impact, prosecutors said.
Griffin, who has prior DUI convictions, had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit in Tennessee.
Fair was a 25-year veteran of the police department and was approaching retirement, the district attorney’s office said.