Man sentenced for role in 2016 Wood County cemetery death

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The sentence is one to three years in prison for the man who was driving drunk when he crashed his truck in a Wood County cemetery which caused a fire and led to the death of his passenger.

On Friday, Duane Hamrick, 45, was sentenced in Wood County Circuit Court.

Duane Hamrick

In February of this year, he entered a guilty plea for driving under the influence of alcohol causing death for the Feb. 2016 wreck at Parkersburg Memorial Gardens in which Matthew Stanley, 42, died.

Hamrick and Stanley had been out drinking when Hamrick made a wrong turn into the cemetery, according to investigators with the Parkersburg Police Department.

The truck got stuck after running into several grave markers and eventually caught fire after Hamrick passed out with his foot on the gas pedal while trying to free the vehicle, sparking a tire fire.

Hamrick woke up and got out of the vehicle, Stanley did not.

Stanley was badly burned and died of smoke inhalation, police said at the time.





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