Detroit limo driver gets nine months in jail

Archived from 1997-98 season.
Richard Gnida, the driver of a limousine that crashed and injured two Detroit Red Wings players last summer, was sentenced Friday to nine months in jail and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service at a facility for patients with head injuries.

Gnida crashed a limo that was carrying Red Wings' defensemen Slava Fetisov and Vladimir Konstantinov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov last June 13.

Fetisov was only mildly injured but the other two passengers suffered severe head injuries and were in comas for several weeks. Gnida was unharmed.

"You shattered lives," District Judge Kimberly Small told Gnida. "Based on your behavior, you have a serious drug and alcohol problem. And what scares me is you don't know it. I wish I had more time to put you in the Oakland County Jail."

Blood tests showed traces of marijuana in Gnida's system, but the level was too low to determine if the drug contributed to the accident, according to Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca.

Gnida's driving record

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