Driver in fatal crash gets 10 years
Mom grieves for MMA fighter
The driver responsible for the hit-and-run crash that killed mixed martial arts fighter Jordan Parsons apologized Wednesday to the victim’s family and friends, while confessing to drinking all day before getting behind the wheel.
“I’m so unbelievably sorry for all of us to have to be here today for my actions,” said Dennis Wright, before he was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus 10 years of probation.
He cried and held his hand over his eyes as Parsons’ mother, Anna Marlen, told Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Laura Johnson that she has grieved since the May 1, 2016 tragedy.
“Most everything hurts,” Marlen said of burying her 25-year-old son. “I will never get over Jordan’s death.”
She said she prays she will be able to forgive Wright someday. But for now she lives in a world of hurt and thinks about how her son’s hopes and dreams were wiped out because of a stranger’s reckless behavior.
“Dennis Wright selfishly
made the decision to drink and drive, but he will never be able to tarnish or extinguish Jordan’s memory or legacy,” Marlen said.
She gave her approval for prosecutors to make a plea deal with Wright’s lawyers three weeks ago. Parsons’ parents still have a pending wrongful death lawsuit against Wright and a Delray Beach bar where Wright says he drank liquor before the crash.
The 31-year-old Boca Raton man pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of a crash involving death and the victim was a vulnerable road user, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Judge Johnson said the facts of the case are “egregious.”
“This is one of the most wanton and reckless and callous and selfish acts I’ve ever seen,” she told Wright.
“This is a terrible loss of an innocent life,” the judge said. “I know that there’s nothing you can do to ease the pain of the people that are here in this courtroom, but I hope you think of Mr. Parsons every single day that you are in prison.”
And the intention is also that he will remember Parsons after he regains his freedom. One of the requirements of probation is for Wright to carry a photo of Parsons at all times.
Wright’s driver’s license will be permanently suspended, as part of his sentence.
He also must speak to high school or college-age groups about his story and the dangers of drinking and driving at least three times for each year he is on probation.
Wright spoke Wednesday for about 10 minutes, explaining that on the day of the crash he drank alcoholic beverages with friends during lunch and dinner, as well as a stop at Sunfest in West Palm Beach.
According to prosecutors, Wright had drinks at Buddha Sky Bar, 217 E. Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach, just before taking the wheel of a
“Dennis Wright selfishly made the decision to drink and drive, but he will never be able to tarnish or extinguish Jordan’s memory or legacy.”
Anna Marlen, mother of Jordan Parsons
2013 Range Rover Sport owned by his mother. Wright then drove south on Federal Highway in Delray Beach at 116 mph and slammed into Parsons, who was in a Lindell Boulevard crosswalk at about 12:30 a.m.
Wright said he continued driving a short distance, got out to assess damage to the SUV, and then drove home to his condo in the 400 block of East Palmetto Park Road.
He said he knew he had been in an accident but didn’t realize he had hit someone until his roommate the next evening mentioned a story on the news about the crash. By that point Wright had already tried to get the SUV repaired at a body shop.
“The level of guilt and emotion that hit that night was unbearable — I knew that I was responsible,” Wright explained. “Instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to immediately contact the police, I waited until two days later before doing do.”
After the body shop refused the job, Wright hid the vehicle in a Delray Beach storage facility because he was “in fear of being arrested.”
“To this day I know that was absolutely the wrong thing to do,” he said.
Parsons died three days after he was hit, despite surgeries including a leg amputation. He was a member of the Blackzilians team, part of the Bellator MMA sports league, and he trained in Boca Raton.
”Mr. Parsons passed away from an accident that was completely my fault,” Wright said, blaming his struggles with alcoholism since high school for the “bad decisions” that ended Parsons’ life.
Several of Parsons’ friends joined his parents and brother at Wednesday’s hearing and wore T-shirts with Parsons’ photo and the words, “You only get one life, one body, use it wisely.”
Skyler Parsons choked up when describing the pain of losing his older sibling.
“I’m just so angry,” he said, facing Wright, “I don’t know what to say to you.”