Man who hit disabled car and killed infant gets 5 years in prison
A Beaverton man who slammed into the back of a disabled car in a crash that killed a 3-month-old baby will spend five years in prison.
Christopher Roman was sentenced Friday as part of a plea deal.
Prosecutors say Roman was both drunk and high this past August when he crashed into a car that was stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 5 in Vancouver.
Terra Pina and Angel Pena were both injured in the crash and they lost their child, Gabriel.
“I just remember saying ‘no’ when I saw him coming,” the infant’s mother, Terra Pina, said back in August following the crash. “I looked over at Angel and his seat was almost to the dashboard,” she added. “I turned around to see if Gabriel was OK and the whole – the whole rear end of the car was pushed up. I started screaming.”
Roman, he had a prior DUI conviction. Back in 2006 he pleaded guilty to drunk driving and spent four days in jail.
“He got a second chance and he threw it away,” Angel said in late August. “And not only that, he took something very, very special to us.”