A man avoided prison Wednesday for hitting and killing a cyclist in Schererville.
Damian Garcia, 24, of Lansing, Illinois, was sentenced to a split two-year term – 18 months in the Lake County Community Corrections’ Kimbrough Work Release program and six months on probation.
He pleaded guilty in May to criminal recklessness, a Level 6 felony.
Judge Natalie Bokota said the crash was due to “aggressive driving.”
Schererville Police responded just before 9 p.m. May 22, 2023, to 900 Eagle Ridge Drive, where Alfredo Munoz, 58, of Dyer, was lying in the road between both entrances to Villa Cesare.
Garcia told police he and his brother were headed home from Planet Fitness in Schererville. He was passing a red car behind Home Depot when he barely saw two bicyclists coming the opposite way.
The road is near the Pennsy Greenway Trail and often frequented by cyclists.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Munoz’s daughter Eugenia Johnson said she was left with “overwhelming” grief. He was a devoted grandfather. Her mother witnessed the crash and grew withdrawn, she said.
“I will spend the rest of my life missing my father,” she said.
Deputy Prosecutor Veronica Gonzalez said the non-prison sentence was largely because he didn’t have a prior criminal history.
She noted he appeared to have been involved in multiple crashes in recent years. His lawyer Herb Shaps later said the others weren’t his fault.
Gonzalez asked for 2.5 years in Lake County Community Corrections.
Shaps said it was a “tragic” case and his client had “flashbacks” when he saw other cyclists while driving at night.
“It was an accident,” the lawyer said.
Garcia apologized to the family.
“Not a single day goes by that I don’t regret the decision I made that night,” he said. “No words could ever express how sorry I am.”
Bokota said his remorse was sincere, but doubted that without some court-ordered intervention, he would not end up in another crash. She ordered him to complete various courses during his sentence.
Shaps told Bokota that Garcia won’t appeal.
“Do everything you can to learn from this,” Bokota said.
mcolias@post-trib.com
