DELAND, Fla. (AP) -- A central Florida man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a fatal crash that occurred as he was fleeing police.
A Volusia County judge sentenced 22-year-old John Yovaish on Monday. He pleaded no contest last month to multiple charges, including vehicular homicide, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and grand theft. He had faced a possible life sentence.
Authorities say Yovaish was trying to get away from police in a stolen pickup truck in December 2009 when DeLand officers set out stop sticks. The sticks deflated Yovaish's tires, causing him to crash into nearby 40-year-old David Johnson.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that the city of DeLand later paid the victim's family $100,000, though an insurance review found no wrongdoing on the part of police.