WEST PALM BEACH – A judge this week sentenced a Riviera Beach man to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a vehicular manslaughter charge in connection with the death of a golf cart driver on the Blue Heron Boulevard Bridge.
Willie Joe Shannon, 59, also pleaded guilty to one count of leaving the scene of an accident in which he was killed in the high-speed wreck that killed Troy R. Lowry, then 51, as well as a Riviera Beach resident, in the early hours morning in August Investigators say Shannon’s car may have been traveling at 100 miles per hour seconds before the crash.
Shannon entered the plea on Thursday, October 17, during a hearing in the Palm Beach County Courthouse. District Judge Howard Coates imposed a concurrent eight-year prison sentence on both counts, with Shannon to receive six years’ probation.
Coates also disqualified Shannon from driving for three years, ordered him to do 200 hours of community service and take part in a panel during which victims tell people convicted of driving offenses about the toll the accidents have taken on their lives.
The judge credited Shannon with 349 days spent in the Palm Beach County Jail, meaning Shannon has already served almost a year of his sentence. Shannon faced at least 15 years and nine months in prison if the case went to trial.
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Assistant State’s Attorney Storm Tropea told the judge that Lowry’s family agreed to the plea but did not want to speak in open court.
At the time of the arrest, Riviera Beach police alleged that Shannon was involved in a bridge hit-and-run that resulted in Lowry’s death shortly before 1:30 a.m. that day. They said he crashed his Mercedes into the back of a golf cart occupied by Lowry, who owned Get Wet Water Sports at the time.
The arrest report states that an analysis of data from the Mercedes-Benz airbag control module showed that the vehicle was traveling between 99 and 180 km/h in a 35 mph speed zone at the time of the crash. Police said DNA taken from the steering wheel airbag likely matched Shannon.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be contacted at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Sign up today.
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This article originally appeared on the Palm Beach Post: Judge sentences driver in fatal high-speed crash on Blue Heron Bridge