A Texas teenager has been sentenced to 65 years of imprisonment over a DUI crash in December 2023 that killed six members of an Indian family and left three others critically injured.
The tragic incident occurred when the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Luke Resecker, drove a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. He suddenly swerved into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with a 2021 Honda Odyssey, which was carrying the Indian family from Alpharetta.
Texas Teenager Sentenced to 65 Years in Prison
The incident took place the day after Christmas on U.S. 67 just south of Fort Worth. Investigators said that Resecker was high under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident and tried to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone.
The driver of the Honda Odyssey that was carrying the Indian family tried to avoid the suspect's Silverado pickup but failed to prevent the crash. The occupants of the latter were identified as 36-year-old Naveena Potabathula, 64-year-old Nageswararao Ponnada, 60-year-old Sitamahalakshmi, 10-year-old Kruthik Potabathula, and nine-year-old Nishidha Potabathula.
The driver of the smaller vehicle, identified as Rushil Barri, was also killed in the horrific car crash, according to 11Alive.
The then 18-year-old, who recently turned 19, pled not guilty to his charges on Oct. 21 but was later convicted on Oct. 27 of all charges against him. These include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury, six counts of driving while intoxicated, six counts of manslaughter, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The maximum sentence that the defendant faced for the charges filed against him was more than 125 years, but the judge in the case sentenced him to around half, at 65 years. The only one to survive the incident was 26-year-old Lokesh Potabathula, who underwent several surgeries following the crash.
Crash That Killed Indian Family Members
Additionally, Lokesh was left paralyzed from the waist down due to the injuries he sustained from the deadly crash. Another victim was a passenger who was riding in Resecker's vehicle, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, the Times of India reported.
In a separate incident, a family is hoping to get answers for the incident that took the lives of two people who were walking one evening near a busy intersection.
The crash occurred at around 6:00 p.m. on Belmont Road, with a witness saying that the two victims were crossing the road to grab something from a store after ordering at Domino's, shortly before they were struck by a driver traveling in an SUV, as per WGNTV.
