NEW YORK—Bartolo Paula, 56, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on August 12 for killing a 15-year-old boy in a hit-and-run in 2005. Paula had fled to Spain. He was extradited last December and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in June.
“The defendant has admitted his guilt to a terrible and tragic crime and will serve prison time, giving him the opportunity to reflect upon his reckless actions which resulted in the death of a teenage boy who had his whole life ahead of him,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a press release.
On October 26, 2005 Paula had dropped off his own teenage son at John Adams High School in Ozone Park, Queens. He stopped at a light where the 15-year-old Jeffrey Javier was crossing the street at a crosswalk. When the light turned green, Paula ran down Javier and kept going.
A witness followed Paula for several blocks, and jotted down the license plate number and handed it to the police. Javier, meanwhile, suffered a fractured skull among other injuries and died at Jamaica Hospital.
The police went after Paula, yet after agreeing to surrender to the police, Paula fled to the Dominican Republic instead and eventually settled down in Spain.
In addition to the 10-year prison sentence, Paula has also been sentenced to 5 years of supervision after his release.
