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Teen gets year in Starbucks manslaughter case

A teenager from Georgia has been sentenced to a year in jail in the death of a customer at a St. Louis-area Starbucks.
/ Source: The Associated Press

A teenager from Georgia was sentenced to a year in jail in the death of a customer at a St. Louis-area Starbucks.

Judge Colleen Dolan handed down the sentence Thursday for 19-year-old Aaron Poisson of Cumming, Ga. He pleaded guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter, stealing and leaving the scene of an accident.

At the hearing, Poisson cried as he turned and faced relatives of the victim, telling them he was sorry and that they were in his prayers.

Last March, Poisson stole a tip jar from the counter of a Starbucks, and 54-year-old Roger Kreutz of Creve Coeur went to the parking lot to stop him. Poisson's car accidentally struck Kreutz.

Kreutz, who was a regular patron at the coffee shop, died two days after he was struck.

The Seattle-based company said in a statement that Kreutz "was a longtime regular Starbucks customer whose daily presence will be sorely missed by the many Starbucks partners who knew him."