[UPDATE: Read Claire Allen's powerful letter to the prosecutor on Seattle Bike Blog.]
Erlin Garcia-Reyes, the hit-and-run driver who killed Mike Wang in July 2011, has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.
Wang, 44, was an esteemed PATH photographer who biked to work from Shoreline to South Lake Union every day. He was killed Thursday, July 28, 2011, when he was struck by a SUV on Dexter Avenue North.
Reyes was arrested in June and pleaded guilty to a felony hit-and-run last month. The 41-month sentence was the maximum sentence as recommended by prosecutors.
The other detail announced on the news was that Garcia-Reyes, a Honduran citizen, will be deported to Honduras at the end of his imprisonment.
I worked with Mike and knew him a handful of years ago. When I first saw him arriving at the old PATH HQ building (in Ballard) wearing his cycling gear, it prompted me to start a dialogue about cycling. I had been an avid cyclist in the 80s and early 90s until an injury set me on a perilous course to obesity. Mike was one who encouraged me to get out on my bike to get back to a healthy condition. He was quiet and unassuming…at least with me.
I took his encouragement (along with that of a host of others) and got back on my bicycle. I wish that I could have shown him what his encouragement meant to me. I lost the weight (all 190 pounds of it) and I ride almost everyday. Though the distance to my office precludes me from commuting on two wheels, I am open to the possibilities of adding it in to my 2.5 hour bus commute.
My hope and prayer is that Mike’s family and colleagues will find peace and comfort. I am appalled at the extremely short sentence for this serial vehicular assailant, murderer.