THE BRONX — The driver who fatally hit a bicyclist on the City Island Bridge a year ago was sentenced to six years behind bars on Tuesday afternoon, following a heartfelt and tearful statement from the victim's aunt.
Michael Moreno, 26, was convicted of hitting 27-year-old bicyclist Gabriela Aguilar-Vallinos on the night of Sept. 11, 2015 and fleeing the scene, according to the NYPD.
At Moreno's sentencing Tuesday, Aguilar-Vallinos' aunt Lucretia Ramirez said her niece could have at least had a chance to say goodbye to her family if he had gone back to help her. The pain of losing her was still very present in the family's life more than a year after the accident, she said.
"He's going to have the opportunity to help his family members again, but he didn't give my child a chance to live because he abandoned her," she said of Moreno, speaking through a Spanish translator. "It's a pain that I do not wish on any others, not even on you."
The night of the crash, at about 11:40 p.m., Moreno struck Aguilar-Vallinos with his Hyundai Genesis as he was trying to pass another car by going into a fire lane, according to Moreno's attorney John Cromwell.
Aguilar-Vallinos was rushed to Jacobi Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Moreno later turned himself into the Bronx District Attorney's Office and was charged with criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.
Cromwell stressed that while his client had accepted responsibility for his actions, he did not leave the scene realizing that he had hit someone.
"Mr. Moreno is not a monster," Cromwell said. "He's made a grievous mistake."
Addressing Moreno at his sentencing, the victim's uncle Lenin Ramirez said someone had fatally hit his dog, too, "but at least that person returned to see if he could help in some way."
"I only hope that God forgives him," he said, also speaking through a Spanish translator. "I wish I could forgive him, but right now I cannot."
Moreno pleaded guilty to the charges against him and appeared in court for his sentencing wearing a light brown jumpsuit.
Police statistics show that less than half of drivers who left the scenes of fatal accidents in fiscal year 2016 were arrested.
There were just 13 arrests out of 38 fatal accidents that went unreported by drivers, while there were 14 arrests out of 22 accidents resulting in serious injuries, where the driver left the scene, according to the NYPD.
Moreno apologized for his actions and asked the victim's family for forgiveness.
He said he hoped to honor Aguilar-Vallinos by becoming a better person while serving out his sentence.
"In her memory, I plan to use my time incarcerated to better myself in every way... so I can come out and be the best man I can possibly be," he said.
