Missouri Firefighter Gets Prison in Fatal Crash

AVA, Mo.-- Dominic Gillen of Seymour received a three-year prison sentence on Tuesday for a fatal traffic accident on Nov. 25, 2006. Gillen pleaded guilty last July for voluntary manslaughter for the death of Jacob Yeates, 17.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol estimates Gillen was speeding at 84mph and passed a family of four in a no-passing zone on a blind hill on Missouri 76. His car hit head-on a car driven by Yeates, a junior at Ava High School. Gillen, a volunteer firefighter for the Goodhope Fire Department, was heading to a brush fire in a personal vehicle with no lights or siren. He received minor injuries in the crash.

The three-year sentence is what Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Wade recommended. At the sentencing hearing, Yeates' mother gave a victim impact statement and urged the judge not to grant probation. Circuit Judge John Moody gave Gillen a week to get his affairs together before he has to begin his prison sentence.

Republished with permission of KY3-TV.

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