Motorist sentenced to 8 years for I-395 crash in Baltimore that killed good Samaritan

A Windsor Mill man pleaded guilty Friday to a manslaughter charge stemming from a crash last August that sent a 50-year-old motorist into the water below Interstate 395, killing him.

In addition to an eight-year sentence suspended down from 15 years, Baltimore Circuit Judge Kendra Y. Ausby sentenced Latrell Sanders to serve five years of supervised probation for the crash in downtown Baltimore that killed Robert “Bobby” Horne Jr., 50.

Sanders, 29, was charged last year with manslaughter, assault and drunken driving offenses as Maryland Transportation Authority Police wrapped up an investigation that determined he was driving over 100 mph in a 55-mph zone the night of the crash. Horne, a Baltimore Convention Center employee, had pulled over that evening to help another motorist with a disabled vehicle before Sanders’ car collided with another and struck Horne, sending him over the roadway barrier into the water.

Horne’s family members said after the Washington County resident’s death that helping other drivers was “in his DNA,” a sense of generosity that landed him in the hospital over a decade before his death. He had been hospitalized with broken bones after being struck while helping another motorist.

MTA Police said last year that Horne had pulled his 2007 Ford over on the southbound Interstate 395 ramp leading to Interstate 95, where another vehicle had stopped partially in the left shoulder. Fire department units were already on scene to help the other motorist when two cars collided and struck Horne, and dive teams were sent into the water to search for Horne. Divers found him after 20 minutes of searching and declared him dead at the scene.

Sanders “accepts the judge’s ruling” and gave “a very heartfelt apology” to Horne’s family during his sentencing hearing, according to his lawyer, Mark Sobel.

“It’s a very sad situation all around,” said Sobel, who noted his client had a “good family” and that his father spoke at the sentencing hearing. Sobel noted he is working with Sanders to get his client access to “the help that he needs” as far as his struggles with alcohol abuse.