Sandra Walker was also injured in the head-on crash. The couple’s two children were not injured. (Family photo) 
 
 By Alexis Stevens 
 
 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 
 
 One woman lost her husband in the crash. The other woman caused the crash, which also killed her teenage son. 
 
 But today in court, the two women hugged. 
 
 Tamara Matthews avoided jail time in the crash that killed both Joshua Jenkins, 16, and Glen Walker, 35, in November 2011. She entered a guilty plea today to misdemeanor counts of homicide by vehicle and failure to maintain lane and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation and 500 hours of community service, Channel 2 Action News reported. 
 
 Matthews apologized to Walker’s family in court. And when it was her turn to speak, Walker’s widow, Sandra, said she forgives Matthews. 
 
 “I know she is going through as much pain as I am feeling,” Sandra Walker told Channel 2. “I wanted her to know that I forgive her for what she did.” 
 
 On Nov. 5, 2011, Matthews veered into oncoming traffic on Flat Shoals Road in south Fulton County, near the intersection with Harper Valley Drive, causing the head-on wreck, The AJC previously reported. Eight people were hospitalized after the crash, which killed Joshua Jenkins at the scene. 
 
 Matthews’ van struck a van containing the Walker family of Duluth, which caused the family’s van to flip and land on its roof, police said. 
 
 Glen Walker, 35, who was driving the van, died from injuries weeks after the crash. His wife sustained a traumatic brain injury in the crash and turned 30 while hospitalized. The couple’s two young children were not seriously injured. 
 
 At the time of the crash, the Walkers were on their way to Callaway Gardens, where Sandra Walker was planning to run a 10K race, a family member previously said. Family members aren’t sure why the Walkers had gotten off I-85 and were on Flat Shoals Road, but speculated the family may have planned to stop for a bathroom break. 
 
 Glen Walker was a loyal friend who always smiled and enjoyed playing a variety of sports, such as basketball, flag football and soccer, sister-in-law Michelle Walker said after his death. He attended the University of Georgia after growing up in Norcross. 
 
 The judge told Matthews her community service should include acts that honor the lives of her son and Glen Walker. ||||| By Erica Byfield 
 
 Only Channel 2 Action News was there when a widow hugged the woman who killed her husband. 
 
 
 
 Glen Walker died in November 2011. 
 
 
 
 Police say Tamara Matthews was behind the wheel of an out-of-control minivan that slammed into the Walker family car on Flat Shoals Road in south Fulton County. 
 
 
 
 Walker was driving and his wife, Sandra, and their two kids were in the car. 
 
 
 
 Matthews’ 16-year-old son died in the crash, Sandra Walker suffered a life-altering brain injury and her husband died days later. 
 
 
 
 On Thursday, nearly 2 ½ years after the accident, Matthews entered a plea to misdemeanor counts of homicide by vehicle and failure to maintain l ane. 
 
 
 
 A judge sentenced Matthews to 36 months’ probation and 500 hours of community service. 
 
 
 
 During a victim-impact statement, Sandra Walker shed tears as she told Matthews she forgives her. When the court proceedings ended, Walker hugged Matthews. 
 
 
 
 Channel 2's Erica Byfield spoke to Walker afterwards. 
 
 
 
 "I know she is going through as much pain as I am feeling . I wanted her to know that I forgive her for what she did," Walker said. 
 
 
 
 Earlier, Matthews told the court and the Walker family she was sorry. 
 
 
 
 The judge told Matthews her community service should include acts that honor the lives of her son and Glen Walker. ||||| An Ohio man was sentenced Wednesday to 6 1/2 years in prison for causing a fatal wrong-way crash after a night of heavy drinking, which he had confessed to in an online video. 
 
 In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2013 photo, Matthew Cordle enters court for his arraignment on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide in Columbus, Ohio. Attorneys are seeking a reduced sentence for Cordle,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Matthew Cordle, 22, had faced up to 8 1/2 years in prison. "Whatever my sentence may be, there's no fair sentence when it comes to the loss of a life," Cordle told the judge before the sentence was handed down. 
 
 Franklin County Judge David Fais sentenced Cordle to six years for aggravated vehicular homicide and six months for driving under the influence of alcohol. He also revoked his driving privileges for life. 
 
 Cordle apologized to the family of his victim, Vincent Canzani, who was killed in the June crash. "It should have been me that night, the guilty party, instead of an innocent man," he said. 
 
 His guilty plea last month came just a week after he was indicted in a speedy process absent of the numerous court filings that usually cause such cases to drag on for weeks or months. 
 
 Canzani's daughter asked Fais for the maximum sentence. "My father got a death sentence and did nothing wrong," Angela Canzani told the judge. 
 
 Vincent Canzani was a talented artist and photographer who enjoyed working out and spending time with friends and family, she said. She said her children and her sister's children will never get to see their grandfather again. 
 
 The judge also read a letter from Vincent Canzani's ex-wife who said she believed Vincent Canzani would not have wanted a maximum sentence. She said she believes Cordle will keep his promise never to drink and drive again. 
 
 Cordle's father, Dave Cordle, told the judge he was "disappointed, disgusted and heartbroken" at the choices his son made that night. He did not ask for leniency, and told Canzani's family his heart was filled with sorrow at their loss and hopes someday they can forgive his son. 
 
 In a 3 1/2-minute video posted in early September, Cordle admitted he killed a man and said he "made a mistake" when he decided to drive that night. "My name is Matthew Cordle, and on June 22, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani," he says somberly. "This video will act as my confession." 
 
 Cordle acknowledged having a drinking problem after the crash and entered a treatment program as prosecutors gathered evidence against him. He told his attorneys early on that he wanted to plead guilty but made the video against their advice. 
 
 Prosecutors say a heavily intoxicated Cordle denied causing an accident or killing anyone when he was first taken to a hospital after the crash, in which he suffered broken ribs and a fractured skull. His attorneys say he may have suffered a brain injury. 
 
 Cordle, who lives in Powell, a Columbus suburb, told Fais last month that he had no recollection of the crash, how much he'd had to drink that night or whether he'd had anything to eat. 
 
 "I drank so much I was blacked out," Cordle said at the Sept. 18 hearing where he pleaded guilty. 
 
 Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said he believed Cordle's remorse in the video was genuine, but he said any further interviews would be self-serving. He also disputed Cordle's assertion in the confessional video that he could have fought the case against him, which O'Brien called "a slam dunk." 
 
 O'Brien sought the maximum sentence of 8 1/2 years. Cordle's attorneys asked for a sentence that was fair. 
 
 The video posted on YouTube has been viewed more than 2.3 million times. It begins with Cordle's face blurred as he describes how he has struggled with depression and was simply trying to have a good time with friends going "from bar to bar" the night of the accident. He then describes how he ended up driving into oncoming traffic on Interstate 670. Cordle's face becomes clear as he reveals his name and confesses to killing Canzani. 
 
 He ends the video by pleading with viewers not to drink and drive. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Online: 
 
 Matthew Cordle's video confession: http://bit.ly/1dWug8i
– A Georgia widow confronted the woman responsible for her husband's death in a fatal car accident in court yesterday—and gave her a hug, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I know she is going through as much pain as I am feeling,” Sandra Walker told WSB-TV of her encounter with Tamara Matthews. "I wanted her to know that I forgive her for what she did." In the 2011 crash, Matthews' van hit the Walker family's van, killing both Walker's 35-year-old husband and Matthews' 16-year-old son. Sandra Walker suffered life-altering brain trauma; her two young children, who were also in the car, escaped serious injury. Matthews pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and failure to maintain lane, but she avoided jail time at yesterday's sentencing. Walker, who didn't want Matthews to be separated from her remaining children, had wanted it that way, WBTW reports. Instead, the judge gave her 36 months of probation and 500 hours of community service.