Teen sentenced for deadly street race

HOUSTON Matthew Austin was sentenced to 30 days in jail and seven years probation. He pleaded no contest to racing another car on FM 1960 in northwest Harris County last October. The other driver, Zachary Larwa, lost control and hit a third car head-on. Larwa, his passenger Phi Le and the woman driving the other car, Anna Karpenia, were killed.

The victims' families helped determine the sentence, but Austin will have to do more than jail time.

"They didn't want to see the rest of this young man's life ruined by sending him to prison, but they wanted him to be held responsible for his action and he was willing to step forward and accept responsibility," explained prosecutor Brent Mayr. "He's going to participate in an anti-racing program where he'll be going out to high schools and talking to high school students about the dangers of street racing."

Austin also must buy a plaque to put on Karpenia's grave.

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