A drunk driver who caused the death of a taxi driver near Old Town was sentenced Jan. 22 to 17 years and eight months in state prison. Amy St. John, 44, a Phoenix teacher who was vacationing and staying in the Midway District, was also ordered to pay $9,019 for the funeral and burial expenses of Anteneh Minassie, 42, killed April 19, 2014. St. John was driving the wrong way down a freeway exit to Interstate 5 when her car struck Minassie’s taxi. St. John said in court that Minassie got out of his vehicle and told her she was driving the wrong way. Deputy District Attorney Lucille Yturralde told San Diego Superior Court Judge Louis Hanoian the taxi driver did survive the initial crash but that another car struck Minassie’s vehicle and that he was run over by other cars. She said St. John drove away quickly. Yturralde who said St. John’s blood/alcohol level was .27, which is over three times the legal limit. She added that a bartender and others at a Midway Drive area bar tried to call her a taxi but that she declined, saying she had a ride. She was driving a rental car and left her phone at the bar, her probation report said. Yturralde said Minassie came to the U.S. from Ethiopia. He was married with three children and lived in the Jamacha area. Yturralde said St. John had a prior conviction for drunk driving. A second-degree murder charge was dismissed after St. John pleaded guilty Nov. 30 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit and run. Hanoian gave St. John credit for 634 days spent in jail and fined her $10,294.