He felt a 'bump' as he drove along South Dixie. It turned out he'd killed a 71-year-old man.
WEST PALM BEACH — A year and a day after the crash that killed Paul Donner, a judge sentenced a Lake Worth Beach man to four years in prison in the 71-year-old's death along South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach.
Jesus Santizo Sarmiento pleaded guilty to charges of DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash involving death. During a March 27 hearing at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe also ordered that he serve three years of probation once he completes his prison sentence.
West Palm Beach police charged Santizo Sarmiento with driving under the influence of alcohol when his 2007 Chevrolet Impala struck and killed Donner before dawn on March 26, 2022, on South Dixie Highway just south of Barnett Street.
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Investigators say Santizo Sarmiento had blood alcohol levels of 0.188 and 0.189 at the time of the crash, more than double Florida's legal threshold for intoxication of 0.08.
Shortly after the crash, a city police sergeant spotted him traveling south on South Dixie and pulled him over near Forest Hill Boulevard.
An officer noted that Santizo Sarmiento's breath smelled of alcohol and described his speech as slurred. As Santizo Sarmiento got out of the Impala, he had trouble maintaining his balance.
He told investigators he felt a "bump" as he was driving but was not aware that he had hit anyone, the report said. He also said he had been driving with a suspended license.
The Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office represented Santizo Sarmiento in the proceeding.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Driver sentenced in 2022 crash that killed West Palm Beach man, 71
