A 32-year-old Florida woman with a history of alcohol abuse was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the death of a Pensacola man who was riding his bicycle to his night shift job in June.
Michael Steele, 25, was killed when the woman driving a GMC Yukon hit his bike from behind while she texted on her cellphone. Police said he rolled over the hood and landed about 40 feet away.
He was riding his bike to his job stocking shelves at the local Winn-Dixie so his wife could use the couple's only car to drive to her job in the morning.
3 times legal limit
Christina Rae Rivkin pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of a crash and her third DUI conviction. Her blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit at the time of the collision.
The Pensacola News Journal reported that Rivkin had been sober for weeks, but started drinking Vodka after separating from her husband, who took the children that night.
She apparently did not know she had struck Steele shortly after 11 p.m., and nearly crashed into police vehicles when she stopped at the crash scene on the way home about an hour later. A Yukon emblem found at the crash scene matched one missing from her SUV.
Steele's 20-year-old widow pressed for the maximum sentence, 50 years. As sentenced by Circuit Judge Frank Bell, Rivkin will serve 20 years in prison, then serve 20 years on probation. She'll never be allowed a driver's license again.
Ignition interlock
According to several stories about her sentencing, Rivkin suffered from severe alcohol addiction that changed her personality. She had been committed five times during drunken rages and had two prior convictions for DUI.
Considering her problems with alcohol abuse, I'm surprised that she didn't have an ignition interlock system installed on her vehicle. In fact, Florida has a law requiring an ignition interlock system on some persons convicted of DUI.
Imagine the tragedies that could have been avoided if she never left the house that night.
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