Drunk driver who killed female passenger and state police K9 gets 17-40 years in prison

Family mourns loss of daughter as drunk driver who killed her is sent to prison

A drunk driver responsible for the death of a 28-year-old female passenger and a Michigan State Police K9 Trooper last year learned his fate in court Thursday.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A drunk driver responsible for the death of a 28-year-old female passenger and a Michigan State Police K9 Trooper last year learned his fate in court Thursday.

Henri Brown pleaded guilty and was given a plea deal of 17 to 40 years in prison.

Patecia Benson can only look at pictures of her daughter, Sakyra, who was killed last year as a passenger in the car driven by Brown.

She had only met the 40-year-old Brown a few times. That night he was drunk and rear-ended the back of a Michigan State Police trooper on the Lodge near Linwood. The crash killed Sakyra and Rex, a state trooper K9 officer.

Patecia remembers July 24th 2021, at around 2 a.m., a state trooper arrived at her west side house.

"He said my daughter had been in a fatal accident," Benson said.

Patecia says she never met Brown before seeing him in court today, "I’ve never seen him in my life."

Later, it was found out that Brown had five previous drunk driving convictions.

"I apologize, I don’t know what to say," Brown said in court.

FOX 2: "Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, I'm glad because it could’ve gone a different way," Patecia said.

There was a passenger in the car who suffered injuries as well as the trooper. Both were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. All agreed to the plea. But the family today remembers Sakyra.

"It’s a hard struggle every day I wake up," her mother said. "I do have other children, but I reach for her all the time because she never left my side in 28 years."

And if there is a message in the tragedy - it would be this.

"You got to just be careful who you make friends with," she said.