The heartbroken mother of a little girl fatally struck on the Upper West Side by a reckless teen driver shared her family’s devastation in court Friday before a Manhattan judge sentenced the killer to 3 to 9 years in prison.
“I can’t describe our loss. There is not enough time, there are not enough words,” said an emotional Sofia Russo, 29, who lost her 4-year-old daughter Ariel when Franklin Reyes jumped a curb and crushed the child in his parent’s SUV June 4, 2013.
She continued as Reyes, 19, sat at the defense table with his head bowed, not lifting it once to look at the grief-stricken mother.
“All I can say is this: If you know what it is like to have a person who is a bright light in your life, if you know what it is like to love someone with all your heart, soul and every fiber of your being,” Russo said, choking up. “If there is someone you would give your life for, then you know what I had.”
Reyes didn’t have a license and was fleeing a routine traffic stop when he smashed into the little girl and severely injured her grandmother as they walked to school near West 97th Street.
Russo, 29, turned to Reyes in Manhattan Supreme Court and blasted him for his shameful conduct.
“Ariel died a violent death because of your reckless behavior and you have not apologized,” she said. “You have shown no remorse. Instead, you repeated the same actions which led to her death.”
The menace got arrested twice while out on bail for killing Ariel. He brazenly got behind the wheel again in August of 2014 and, when police pulled him over for making an illegal turn, he fled, dragging an officer 100 feet. Just a week later, he bolted from DA investigators who were escorting him from the hospital for a leg injury.
“Why is it that you get to be here – living, breathing, a part of this world – while Ariel does not?” she asked.
Ariel’s grandmother Katia Gutierrez, who can no longer work due to her injuries from the accident, also addressed the court. “My heart is broken in a million pieces,” she said, leaning on her cane. “With every breath I take, I am reminded that she is not here.”
Reyes took a deal in March of last year, pleading guilty to 6 felonies, in exchange for 3 to 9 years in prison.
ADA David Nasar reminded Justice Gregory Carro that the promised sentence was offered over the objection of prosecutors who wanted no less then 7 1/3.
For the first time, Reyes apologized to Russo’s family Friday.
“I will carry this tragic accident for the rest of my life knowing I took the life of an innocent child,” he said in a monotone voice. “I’m extremely sorry.”
Carro condemned Reyes’ behavior before he handed down the sentence.
“Sometimes a moment in time changes us, it apparently did not change the defendant,” the judge said harshly.
He then addressed Russo as she sat in the gallery with her husband, Alan:
“All I can say, mom, is that bright light you spoke of still shines from above.”