Walter Chidyausiku pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. Today the jury sentenced him to serve 10 years in prison for drunk driving and causing a two car crash which resulted in the death in 10 year-old Tavian “TJ” Sabur, a fifth-grader at Cross Timbers Intermediate School in Arlington. His mother, Tina Reese, was also critically injured spending six weeks in the hospital. Her daughter was forced to come home from college to arrange her little brother’s funeral.
Chidyausiku admitted he got behind the wheel of his BMW sport utility vehicle and drove 60 mph through a stop sign at the intersection of Nathan Lowe Road and Petra Drive in south Arlington.
Chidyausiku—whose blood alcohol content was .12 at the time of the crash, one and a half times the legal limit of .08—was not seriously injured.
“This was every mother’s worst nightmare—to have your child taken from you when you are three blocks from your house, when you think you are safe, when you are least expecting it,” said Prosecutor Dawn Ferguson. “What makes this crime so horrible is that it can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The jury responded to these horrible facts by assessing prison time.”
