A Springfield man pleaded guilty to the crimes of driving while intoxicated causing the death of another and leaving the scene of an accident Tuesday morning.
Benjamin Sugg, 19, will be sentenced in April.
Sugg was 18 when the fatal crash happened in the early morning hours of July 16, 2023 near Rogersville.
A passenger in Sugg’s vehicle, 17-year-old Gavaan Vehr was killed in the accident. Another passenger suffered minor injuries.
At the plea hearing Feb. 6 in Greene County Circuit Judge Kaiti Greenwade’s courtroom, Vehr’s family and friends took up nearly three rows of seats. They wore blue and white sweatshirts bearing a photo of Vehr and the words, “Forever 17.”
According to the Missouri Highway Patrol’s report, the crash happened around 2 a.m. on State Route D at Farm Road 253 in Greene County. Troopers received a report of a 2020 BMW X3 SUV traveling east on Route D when it left the road and overturned.
The driver, later identified as Sugg, had fled on foot.
A witness, the surviving passenger, told the troopers Sugg was the driver and that they were headed home from Club Rodeo, a nightclub in Springfield.
Deputies with Greene County Sheriff’s Office used a dog to follow a trail of footprints in the grass heading north away from the crash. Deputies also used a drone to assist in locating Sugg, who was arrested.
In court Tuesday, prosecutor Zachary McFarland told Greenwade Sugg had rejected a plea deal in which McFarland would have requested an eight-year prison sentence.
With that deal off the table, Sugg faces a potential 10-year sentence for the class C felony of driving while intoxicated causing the death of another and up to seven years for the Class D felony of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
McFarland said Sugg’s blood alcohol content was 0.092% on the night of the crash. The legal limit is 0.08.
In the days following the crash in the summer of 2023, Vehr’s brother spoke to television station KY3.
“He just belonged in everybody’s life,” Kegan Campbell said of Vehr. He just fit in everywhere he went.”
Gavaan Vehr was going into his senior year of high school at Logan-Rogersville High School.
Amber Munnik, Gavaan’s mother, also spoke to KY3. She said she’d been alarmed by an app on her phone that tracked the location of her children and notified her of the crash. Attempting to reach her son, she received no response, leading her to rush to the place on State Route D where the vehicle wrecked.
Upon arrival, Munnik witnessed emergency responders attending to those involved in the accident. She saw her son receiving chest compressions.
“I just dropped down and asked God, ‘Please do not take my baby.' Like, please do not take him away from us,” Munnik told the reporter.
