Woman sent to prison in Stagecoach fatal

A Stagecoach woman was sentenced Monday in Yerington to eight to 20 years in prison in a drunken driving wreck last year that killed a Fernley woman and injured four others.

Mary Ellen Walker, 54, was found guilty by a jury on April 13 on three counts stemming from a June 17, 2006, fatal accident in Stagecoach. It was her second drunken driving conviction since 2002.

According to court records, Walker had more than three-times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood when she attempted to cross Highway 50 East and failed to yield to an eastbound Ford Explorer driven by Alan Pusatero, 58, of Fernley at 11:57 p.m.

Pusatero's vehicle overturned several times, ejecting Humes, who was seated behind the front passenger.

Humes was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fonda Pusatero, 57; Philip Cattaneo, 54; and Lorene Cattaneo were also passengers in the Ford Explorer. They, along with Alan Pusatero, were taken to Washoe Medical Center by helicopter or ambulance.

Walker was given credit for having served 400 days in jail.