Louisiana man gets 30 years in DUI death of 9-year-old girl

GRETNA, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man who admitted to being drunk when he crashed into a family’s minivan, killing a 9-year-old girl, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick announced the sentence in a statement Tuesday. The news release said 58-year-old Wendell Lachney pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and other offenses in the Oct. 22, 2021, wreck that killed Abigail Douglas in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna. Authorities say Lachney had been drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana hours before the crash and his blood-alcohol content was more than double the legal limit to drive in Louisiana.