Goran Kopic, left, stands with his attorney, Bill Terry, in court Tuesday. Kopic, a former cabdriver, was given four years’ probation for his role in the death of a passenger in his taxi in 2004.

A former Las Vegas cabby whose failure to yield the right of way resulted in a Missouri tourist's death in 2004 was given four years' probation on Tuesday.

Goran Kopic, 38, appeared before Judge Michelle Leavitt for sentencing on one charge of involuntary manslaughter. The Bosnian immigrant told the court through an interpreter that he wanted to apologize to the family members of the victim, Stuart Stanze, 51.

"I would like to say I'm very sorry for everything, for all that happened," said Kopic, whose driving record was unmarred before he drove his cab through a stop sign as he exited the Rio and collided with another vehicle.

The accident took place at the intersection of Valley View Boulevard and Viking Road. Stanze, a front-seat passenger, died after the crash caused the cab to hit a parking garage wall.

Stanze's family members, who were also in the cab at the time of the accident, took little comfort in Kopic's apology. Patricia Alexander, Stanze's sister, said she never will forget getting into Kopic's cab and becoming frightened by his angry demeanor and erratic driving just before the accident happened.

"I remember thinking that I truly believe this was a result of his irritation and anger at us," Alexander said. She knows that Kopic did not mean to kill her brother, Alexander said, but because of his "careless and reckless" driving, she had to watch her brother die.

"I can't tell you what my brother meant to me," Alexander said. "He was our rock."

Carol Stanze, the victim's widow, has stopped celebrating her birthday, she told the court. The three family members had hailed Kopic's cab to take them to a restaurant to celebrate her birthday when the collision occurred.

"The last two years for me have been an emotional roller coaster," Stanze said tearfully.

Stanze said she has not yet found a way to forgive Kopic and asked Leavitt to be fair in sentencing. He has spent the last two years with his family, Stanze said, while she has gone to bed every night missing her husband. "I do want him to experience life without his family," Stanze said.

Although Leavitt did not sentence Kopic to a jail term, she did bar him from being a cabdriver, a condition Kopic already has met.