Man Who Ran Over 3 Kids Sentenced To Nearly 3 Years In Prison
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Kyle and Nicolle Peltier's world came apart on June.
"Every day is just a struggle, and it just didn't seem like he could care less," Kyle aid.
He was on a north Minneapolis playground with five of the couple's seven children. That's when Kabaar Powell, who was speeding away from state troopers, plowed into three of the kids.
On Thursday in a Hennepin County courtroom, the parents spoke tearfully of the physical and economic pain that Powell has caused them.
Choking back tears, Kyle told Judge William Koch: "I wake up every day thinking, Why? Why Kayden? Why Lilly? Why Connor?"
Two-year-old Kayden must learn how to walk and talk again. His immune system is gone after doctors removed a ruptured spleen. He had two of his ribs relocated to his neck to help support a damaged spine.
The couple's four-year-old daughter, Lilly, suffered a bruised brain.
Yet the children's emotional bruises caused by the ordeal may never heal.
"Their ultimate goal in life is now to learn how to play and be normal," said Nicolle, their mother. "It's not fair because they were already normal."
Powell pleaded guilty to two counts of fleeing officers, aggravated by causing great and substantial bodily harm. His attorney said he admits to his crime and takes responsibility for his actions.
However, when the judge asked him if he had anything to say before his sentence was read, Powell declined.
Powell's plea agreement also included an upward departure from the probationary term set down by state sentencing guidelines. He received 33 months and one day and will get credit for 67 days already incarcerated since the incident.
But to the family, it's not just what Powell did but the apology that never came.
Says the children's grandfather, Tim Brinkley: "It would have measured in volumes in a positive light if he could have just glanced over and said anything at all remorseful, nothing apologetic in his manner, and that hurts."