Appleton 22-year-old sentenced to 20 years in prison for 2020 Fond du Lac County crash that killed 2 people
FOND DU LAC – A 22-year-old former Appleton resident was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for a 2020 drunken-driving crash that killed two passengers and injured two others.
In May, Samuel J. Coppersmith was convicted of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, two counts of injury by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle causing great bodily harm and knowingly operating a motor vehicle while suspended and causing death.
Following the 20 years in prison, Coppersmith will have seven years of extended supervision, followed by three years of consecutive probation, according to the Fond du Lac County District Attorney's Office.
The single-vehicle crash occurred around 9:14 p.m. July 19, 2020. Coppersmith, 20 at the time, was driving north on Interstate 41 and lost control of the vehicle, which rolled over just south of Townline Road in the town of Friendship.
Two passengers died: Malik Bridges, 22, and Nana Yaw Yeboah, 49, both of Appleton. Two other passengers, a 19-year-old woman and a 26-year-old woman, were injured.
A blood test taken the night of the crash measured Coppersmith's blood alcohol concentration at 0.122%, while a second test later that night measured 0.097%, according to the district attorney's office. Blood-test results also found 2.3 micrograms per liter of Delta-9 THC in Copperfield's system.
"This was a horrific crash in which lives are forever changed based on the actions of this defendant to drink, use marijuana and get behind the wheel of a vehicle," District Attorney Eric Toney said in a statement. "This sentence will not bring back those that were killed or take away the injuries and anguish from the victims and their families, but I hope it serves as a strong deterrent and message not to drink or use drugs and get behind the wheel of a vehicle.”
RELATED: Appleton driver charged with vehicular homicide in crash that killed two passengers
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Appleton 22-year-old sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatal crash
