St. Paul man high on marijuana when he fatally struck motorcyclist sentenced to 1 year
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Jul. 13—A St. Paul man was sentenced Tuesday to a year at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility for fatally striking a motorcyclist with his car while high on marijuana.
Eric Ellington cried during the sentencing, asking the family of Kevin Patterson of Maplewood to forgive him.
"I am genuinely sorry," he said. "I accept any and all responsibility."
Ellington pleaded guilty in May to hitting the motorcycle Patterson was driving May 1, 2020 as Patterson waited in a line of cars at an intersection in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood in St Paul. The 42-year-old father of four was thrown from his motorcycle and found unconscious in the roadway. He suffered severe head trauma and died two weeks later when he was taken off life support.
Ellington admitted that he had smoked marijuana before driving. Police recovered two jars of marijuana in the car and an open bottle of alcohol behind the driver's seat.
He was originally charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide. The second count was dismissed.
Ellington told police that he did not realize the cars had come to a stop. Investigators found that at no point did he slow down or appear to brake before the collision. His car came to rest on top of the motorcycle.
Patterson's sister Danielle Durkins took issue with Ellington's lawyer characterizing the crash as an accident.
"I disagree," she said. "I feel like it was a choice. Mr. Ellington made the choice to impair himself. He made the choice to get behind the wheel of his vehicle and caused my brother's death."
Judge George T. Stephenson also sentenced Ellington to give 100 lectures to youth groups in schools on the dangers of driving under the influence, attend a support group and volunteer at Meals on Wheels which was Patterson's favorite charity. He is not allowed to drink alcohol, do drugs or own firearms. His probation will last 10 years.
He was granted work release, meaning he can leave the jail, work at his job, and return at night. The Ramsey County Correctional Facility, often referred to as the "workhouse," is a county jail that offers an array of programs to help non-violent offenders better their lives.
Stephenson said if Ellington did not follow his sentencing to the letter, he would be arrested and would spend up to three years in prison.
He encouraged Ellington to use his time at the jail to improve himself and expressed concern that Ellington had smoked marijuana in February and that he waited until two weeks before sentencing to get a chemical dependency evaluation done.
"There's nothing that you're going to do that's going to make up for the loss the family has suffered when you killed their son, brother, husband," Stephenson said. "But maybe you can do some repairing to the community."
