Arkansan who police said had BAC nearly 4 times legal limit pleads guilty in pedestrian's death

Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs

A Springdale man who police said registered a blood alcohol content more than three-and-a-half times the legal limit for drivers has pleaded guilty in the death of a pedestrian.

Wade Schyler Boggs, 24, was then sentenced to 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction with five years suspended, fined $400 and assessed $300 in court costs.

Springdale police arrested Boggs on July 26, 2017 after his vehicle hit a 53-year-old man who was walking on Ranch Drive about 9:30 p.m., according to police reports.

The man was taken to Northwest Medical Center, and died in late 2017, police said.

Boggs entered the guilty plea to a charge of negligent homicide on Monday in Washington County Circuit Court.

He wasn’t convicted of driving while intoxicated, a move Prosecutor Matt Durrett said was procedural because of the way the state’s negligent homicide statute is written. Driving while intoxicated is considered a lesser included offense of negligent homicide, Durrett explained.

Boggs failed field sobriety tests and police measured his blood alcohol content at 0.304 percent after his arrest, according to police.

The legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent.

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