ST. LOUIS – A man with multiple prior felony convictions — including voluntary manslaughter — was sentenced Wednesday for running over a pedestrian in 2024.

The incident happened on Aug. 19, 2024, in the 5900 block of Martin Luther King Drive in the city’s Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. Officers arrived to fine a 67-year-old man had been struck by a reckless driver.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video, which showed Cornell Sparks Jr. driving on MLK Drive at more than 40 miles per hour, cut across the opposite lane of traffic, drive onto the sidewalk, and run over the victim. Sparks fled after the accident.