CANTON ‒ When Stencil Archie died in a car crash, three girls lost their father, his sisters lost a friend and a family lost its peacemaker.
“He was the heart of our family, always finding a way after any disagreement to mend us together,” his sister Jasmine Archie wrote in a letter read at the sentencing hearing of the driver responsible for his death, Dajanique A. Sanders of Canton.
“He was the glue and the love in this family,” wrote his sister Constance Archie. “No matter what, he always tried to keep us all closer and now that’s all over. My brother was my best friend, my twin and it feels like my life is over too now.”
Stark County Common Pleas Court Judge Kristin G. Farmer sentenced Sanders on Oct. 9 to four to six years in prison for charges filed in connection with the June 14, 2024, collision in Perry Township that killed the Akron man.
The sentence for the 28-year-old Canton woman is part of a negotiated plea agreement between the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office and defense attorney Emily Durway. Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Kassim J. Ahmed represented the office at sentencing and read the letters from the victim’s sisters, who did not speak in court.
Sanders pleaded no contest Oct. 2 to aggravated vehicular homicide, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and two counts of child endangering.
In addtition to the prison term, the judge suspended Sanders’ driver’s license for 15 years, imposed a $375 fine, and required her to pay court costs. Sanders will spend 18 months to three years on parole after her release. She is to report to the Stark County Jail for transfer to a state prison on Nov. 3.
Fatal crash kills Stencil Archie
The Ohio State Highway Patrol crash report says Sanders had a blood-alcohol level of 0.175%, more than twice Ohio’s legal driving limit of 0.08%, at the time of the crash, which was reported at 9:05 p.m.
Archie, 35, of Akron, was her front-seat passenger. He died shortly after arriving at a Canton hospital. He was not using a safety belt, the patrol said. The criminal charge filed against Sanders said Stencil was thrown from the vehicle.
Criminal charges filed by the highway patrol said Sanders’ 9-year-old son was thrown from the vehicle and was seriously injured. The crash report says he was a rear seat passenger with no seat belt in use. The driver’s daughter was also seated in the rear. The highway patrol’s press release said she had minor injuries. She was 9 months old at the time.
Sanders lost control of a 2006 Ford Freestyle while heading west on U.S. Route 30 west of Whipple Avenue NW in Perry Township, according to investigators. The vehicle went off the left side of the road into the grassy median, overturned, went into the eastbound lanes, hit a guardrail and overturned again.
Dajanique A. Sanders speaks on crash
Given the chance to speak on her own befalf before sentencing, Sanders expressed her sympathies to the victim’s family and asked for forgiveness.
She said Archie was a “dear friend” who brought light to the lives of herself and her children. She said they enjoyed long phone conversations, shopping trips, eating out and trips to the park. He built a bond with her son and taught him to play basketball. Sanders said the loss broke the hearts of herself and her son.
Sanders said she had spent most of her life caring for others, and had worked in health care for 10 years.
Defense attorney Durway said Sanders had no prior criminal record, is a single parent and was working toward becoming a registered nurse. She said Sanders had love and respect for the victim and was remorseful.
“It’s a tragedy all around,” Durway said.
In her letter, Jasmine Archie wrote that she did not believe Sanders intentionally her brother away.
“I’m not God,” she wrote. “I can’t judge you and I won’t. I just hope you understand the impact of your decisions. Your decisions took the first friend I ever had in this world. His smile (was) something I always made fun of but I loved to see. He was special and he knew it!
I still have a hard time believing he’s not here, and no lie, this situation has helped me make better decisions in my own life. I just would have never thought he’d go before we were elders, Deja, God has the final say.”
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton driver headed to prison for 2024 drunken driving crash that killed Akron passenger
Reporting by Nancy Molnar, Canton Repository / The Repository
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