Oklahoma: • Manslaughter sentencing set in trooper's death
Formal sentencing for a Cushing man who struck two Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers while driving on Interstate 40 east of Shawnee earlier this year is scheduled for Thursday. Steven Wayne Clark, 30, pleaded guilty to the felony manslaughter count in Seminole County District Court in August and was scheduled for sentencing Dec. 8.
Records show a pre-sentence investigation has been completed and a hearing was held that day, but formal sentencing was continued until Dec. 17.
Investigators say Clark, who was driving through Seminole County the night of Jan. 31, was distracted by his cell phone when he struck and killed Trooper Nicholas Dees and injured Trooper Keith Burch. The troopers, along with other first responders, were working the scene of another accident when they were hit.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Deputy William Wheeler was among those at that scene and narrowly escaped being hit. Wheeler, who often speaks publicly about what happened that night, said texting while driving accidents are “1,000 percent preventable.”
He is also involved with Nick's Promise, an educational program that has evolved to honor the trooper and educate drivers about the dangers of texting and driving.
A new law banning texting while driving in Oklahoma was passed during the spring legislative session following the trooper’s death and is named for both Dees and Burch. That legislation became a state law on Nov. 1.
While awaiting formal sentencing, Clark remains jailed in the Seminole County jail.
Manslaughter is punishable by at least four years in prison
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