MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG was the only station to question Melandus Penson about the deadly accident that killed two Briarcrest students on Sunday.
“What do you say to the family?” we asked Penson as he walked from court Monday morning.
“I am sorry. I am sorry,” said Penson.
We asked him had be been drinking.
“No ma’am. Not that morning, ” he said.
So we asked how did he run into the back of the vehicle.
“They just swerved. She braked and swerved,” said Penson.
Prosecutors said Penson was drunk behind the wheel and following too close when his car slammed into one carrying the Briarcrest students to the beach, causing them to crash and hit a pole on the side of the interstate.
Rachel Lynch and Maddie Kruse both died in that crash.
“It’s a tragedy. Two lives have been taken, three others injured,” said Marshall Prosecutor Shirley Byers.
Prosecutors said it wasn’t the first DUI for Penson.
In fact, in the last 5 years, he has gotten 4 other DUI charges in Lee, Union and Ponotoc Counties.
Video obtained by WREG Investigators showed Penson running through a DUI Roadblock in 2013 before wrecking his car.
Marshall County’s prosecutor said slow paper processing and so many DUIs in such a short period of time may be the reason nobody knew Penson was driving when he should not have even been.
“Once you are convicted its not automatically going to Jackson, transmitted to them on line or anything. The paperwork has to be done and compiled and has to be sent to Jackson,” said Byers.
The prosecutor said all those DUIs would play a factor this time and was one of the reasons why Penson’s bond was set at $3 million.
He will be back in court June 8 for a preliminary hearing.