Woman pleads guilty in 2016 fatal DUI
WEST PALM BEACH — A 44-year-old woman pleaded guilty Thursday morning in a 2016 fatal DUI crash in suburban West Palm Beach.
Dina Brown pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the wrong-way crash that killed 34-year-old James Grinder on June 11, 2016. Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer sentenced Brown to eight years in prison and six years of probation once she is released.
On June 11, 2016, Brown was driving westbound at 40 mph in the eastbound lanes of Westgate Avenue just before 2 a.m., according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office. Grinder was driving eastbound when Brown’s vehicle hit Grinder’s silver Toyota Tacoma head-on. Grinder died at the scene, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A 10-year-old child, who was sitting in Brown’s front seat during the crash, sustained a broken femur, according to the report.
Brown told investigators at the scene and the staff at St. Mary’s Medical Center that she had been drinking before the crash. According to tests done at the hospital, Brown had a blood-alcohol level of 0.163. When she was tested again by law enforcement two hours later, she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.129.
The legal limit for intoxication in Florida is 0.08.
Brown, a suburban West Palm Beach resident, previously pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2004 and was found guilty of DUI in 2002, according to Palm Beach County court records.