Man sentenced to prison for killing girlfriend in 2022 Spokane crash

A 34-year-old man on Wednesday was sentenced to 6½ years in prison after crashing his car down an embankment, killing his girlfriend in 2022 on Downriver Drive in Spokane.

Daniel J. Jones pleaded guilty last month to vehicular homicide before Spokane County Superior Court Judge Candie Dibble sentenced him for the death of 23-year-old Sunniva Seat.

At about 5 a.m. Aug. 4, 2022, Jones pulled onto the road from a gravel parking area where he and Seat spent the night sleeping in his 2004 Buick LeSabre, according to court documents.

He stopped perpendicular to an oncoming truck, forcing the driver to slam on his brakes, according to a Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office news release. Jones remained in the truck driver’s path, so the driver pulled around Jones to continue on his way.

Jones then gunned his vehicle and accelerated quickly behind the truck. The roadway was narrow with no shoulder and marked as a no-passing area. Jones continued accelerating and passed the truck just before coming upon a tight curve in the road where he lost control of his car and it rolled down an embankment.

Seat, a passenger, was partially thrown and pinned under the car. She died at the scene.

Court records show Jones was traveling over double the posted 25 -mph speed limit and never applied his brakes before crashing.

Dibble said Jones acted impulsively and out of anger, citing her reasons for the 78-month sentence, prosecutors said.