FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The driver of a gasoline tanker that rolled over and exploded, killing four members of the same family, was sentenced to 36 years in prison Monday.
Flavio Santisteban, 36, was convicted of four counts of vehicular manslaughter in September for his role in the fiery crash in February 2005.
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Santisteban was driving a tanker truck carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline when he lost control of the big rig on the on-ramp from Interstate 595 to the northbound lanes of Florida's Turnpike. The truck flipped and exploded.
Pinned between the blazing tanker and the guard rail was a passenger car carrying Anita Epstein of Coconut Creek, her niece, Gloria Halpern of Potomac, Md., her nephew, Allen Klein, and his wife, Debbie, who were in town to visit an ailing relative.
At the sentencing hearing Monday, the victims' family members asked the judge to give Santisteban the maximum sentence of life in prison.
?He took four lives. He tore out family apart,? said Gloria Pastelnick, Halpern?s mother.
?I hope they died quickly. I?m so lonely without them," said Helen Klein, Allen Klein?s mother.
Prosecutors said Santiestaban was driving too fast around the sharp curve. At the trial, experts said the tanker was traveling between 42 and 45 mph; the speed limit is 35 mph.
Santisteban?s friends pleaded with the judge for mercy. They described the 36-year-old as a kind, hardworking Cuban migrant who is engaged to be married and just became a father last month. They asked the victim?s family for forgiveness.
?I know you?re angry, but just give him a chance,? says Yohanka Pereria, Santisteban?s friend.
Santisteban told the judge through an interpreter that he was sorry for the accident and that he didn?t intend to hurt anyone.