DITMARS — A hit-and-run driver who ran a stop sign and killed a 21-year-old pedestrian near Astoria Park this summer was sentenced Thursday to up to four years in prison, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.
Nicholas Colleran, 25, pleaded guilty last month to criminally negligent homicide and failure to yield the right of way in the fatal crash, in which he struck Betty DiBiasio as she was crossing at Ditmars Boulevard and 19th Street shortly after midnight on June 27.
Colleran ran a stop sign in his 2002 Chevy Impala, striking DiBiasio and then taking off without stopping. He turned himself in the next day, telling police he'd had two beers before driving and panicked after the crash, officials said.
"This case is yet another example of how deadly motor vehicles can be and the consequences of ignoring traffic regulations," District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
Acting Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt sentenced Colleran Thursday to one and one-third years to four years in prison, Brown's office said, the maximum punishment under the law.
Colleran's attorney Robert E. Brown said his client apologized to DiBiasio's family in court.
"He's going to have to live with this for the rest of his life, and he's profoundly remorseful for the victim's family," he said.
