Motorist sent to prison for son's death in accident

It sounds hard to fathom, but a man left his young son at the scene of a car crashed the man caused, allegedly after drinking. The boy suffered fatal injuries.

The 26-year-old man from Milwaukee was sentenced on Oct. 24 to 10 years in a state prison as punishment for causing the wrongful death of his 8-year-old son in the accident. He was allegedly driving drunk at the time of the crash, which occurred in November 2010.

The accident took place in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and the driver allegedly eluded police initially, fleeing from the scene of the crash. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he broke into a home in Brookfield, trying to hide from police, and ultimately was taken into custody after engaging in a standoff with the officers who discovered him there.

He was charged with being involved in a hit-and-run accident involving a fatality, vehicular homicide, and use of a controlled substance. Criminal charges concerning the alleged use of alcohol were dropped, although why is unclear.

The man entered a plea of guilty in court in Milwaukee County. Charges against him in Waukesha County concerning the standoff with police are still pending.

The trial judge rejected the motorist's claim that he ran from the scene of the accident intending to kill himself over his remorse for the death of his son, noting that he left his son's body at the scene of the accident. He also expressed his disbelief of the driver's argument that his consumption of alcohol only occurred after the crash.

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Man gets 10 years in crash that killed son," Oct. 24, 2011