Myrtle Beach man sentenced for killing 84-year-old man in drunk driving crash
A Myrtle Beach man has been sentenced to a decade in prison for a fatal crash caused while he was driving intoxicated.
Michael Wagner, 38, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony DUI resulting in death, according to a release from the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
The charges stem from a deadly crash that happened on May 19, 2025, in the Myrtle Beach area. Wagner was speeding down S.C. 31 in his work van while heading home from a job, the release said. Wagner struck the back of Richard “Mike” Nicholson’s vehicle, causing it to flip and crash into the wooded area. The 84-year-old Murrells Inlet man died at the scene.
Wagner drove away from the scene but was found passed out in a Circle K parking lot by South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers, with open containers in his vehicle, the release said. Wagner had a 0.21 blood alcohol concentration. Under state law, 0.08 is the legal limit.
Nicholson, a Navy veteran, spent 30 years working for the federal government in a variety of leadership roles, including at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Department of Homeland Security.
