Inset: Fred Donaldson (Sarasota County Jail). Background: The vehicle Donaldson drove off the road in Sarasota County, Florida (WFLA).
An Ohio man whose blood alcohol content level was twice the legal limit when he ran another vehicle off a Florida highway, causing a couple to smash into a tree and die, is headed to prison for two decades.
Fred Donaldson, 48, pleaded no contest to two counts of DUI manslaughter in the deaths of 69-year-old David Henson and his 64-year-old wife Katherine Henson. A judge Tuesday sentenced Donaldson to 20 years behind bars.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, Donaldson was speeding down Interstate 75 in Sarasota County shortly before 4 p.m. Dec. 14, weaving in and out of traffic. A video obtained by local NBC affiliate WFLA shows the driver's side of his vehicle slam into the Hensons' passenger-side vehicle. The collision sends the Hensons off the highway before they crash into a tree.
Paramedics pronounced the couple dead at the scene.
Donaldson stayed at the scene. Cops say he smelled like alcohol and had a BAC of 0.18. The legal limit to drive is 0.08.
He appeared to take responsibility for the crash at the scene and asked cops if the couple was OK.
Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol asked if he would complete field sobriety tests.
"I can probably do the test," Donaldson responded. "But it doesn't mean I'm right."
Donaldson said he wanted to stop the test after troopers asked him to do the "walk and turn" exercise.
"I f—ed up, I don't think I need to offer anything," he said. "No matter how drunk I am, I f—ed up."
Troopers arrested Donaldson on suspicion of DUI.
According to a victim impact statement, Katherine Henson was a nurse and her husband was a restaurateur. They were married for nearly 40 years.
"Kathy and Dave lived their lives with a simple but powerful philosophy: Family first," the statement said. "It was not just something they said — it was something they did, every single day. They helped with repairs at their aging parents' homes. They drove across the country to help a nephew move. They showed up without being asked, and they stayed as long as they were needed."
The couple lived in Pensacola and had just returned from a cruise before the fatal crash.
"The driver who made the choice to get behind the wheel that day did not just take two lives," the statement said. "He shattered a family. He robbed children of their parents, grandparents of their daughter, a grandbaby of grandparents they will never meet, and a community of two people who made it genuinely better."
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