A man received a term topping seven years for downing shots and stumbling about in a Moorhead restaurant, then driving drunk on the wrong side of a highway and causing a head-on crash that killed the other driver and her dog.
Christopher Thomas Pink, 28, was sentenced Monday in Clay County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the collision shortly before 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 north of Moorhead on Hwy. 75. Killed in the crash was Jennifer Elizabeth Watson, 43, of Ennis, Texas.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Pink is expected to serve the first 4½ years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Pink was traveling north in the southbound lane of Hwy. 75 in his pickup truck when he hit Watson as she drove her SUV south, the State Patrol said.
According to the criminal complaint:
A state trooper arrived at the crash scene, saw Pink and noticed a strong odor of alcohol. Pink was led to the trooper’s squad car for a medical evaluation.
The trooper went to the SUV and saw that Watson was dead. A dog in her vehicle was motionless. Police started driving the dog to a veterinary hospital in Fargo, but the animal died on the way.
Pink told the trooper he had consumed “zero” alcohol in the time leading up to the crash, the complaint quoted him as saying. He declined medical attention and refused to take a preliminary breath test to measure his degree of intoxication. Pink’s blood was taken for testing once he was at the jail, but he refused to sign and initial the test tubes.
