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Drunk Driver Who Fatally Struck Pedestrian Gets Just 90 Days In Jail
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 29, 2014
Modified Mar 29, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 29, 2014
Modified Mar 29, 2014
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Back in 2011, 23-year-old Thomas Riley was trying to hail a cab on East Fordham Road near Bathgate Avenue in The Bronx when he was fatally struck by Seth Johnson, who had been drinking and smoking marijuana. Now three years later, Johnson has finally been sentenced to just 90 days in jail as punishment. "He will be in jail for less than three months and I have to live with a life sentence,” the victim’s mother, Aurea Rivera, told the News after the decision was read. "I want the laws changed so that no one else has to suffer like us."
Johnson, 38, initially stopped and got out of his minivan after the incident on March 20th, 2011, but when a witness tried to grab him, he drove off. He was caught by cops nearby (thanks in part to the massive hole in his windshield) and charged with drunken driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Riley, a father of one. A jury acquitted Johnson of all the charges except the drunk driving, for which he will receive 90 days in jail and three years’ probation. Johnson has also been out on bail for the three years leading up to his sentencing.
"I can’t cry anymore," Rivera, who read a statement in court asking de Blasio to toughen vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving laws, added. "We have had to relive my son’s death over and over." Through the first three months of 2014, there have been 50 people killed in traffic crashes.
Tagged
death
drunk driver
jail
pedestrian fatalities
seth johnson
thomas riley
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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