A Garnerville man accused of driving with a suspended license and fleeing the scene of a fatal accident last July now faces a potential prison sentence of one to three years.
Patrick Sharkey, 35, was offered this sentence on Tuesday by a Rockland County court judge, as reported by the Rockland County Prosecutor’s Office. Judge Anne Bianchi is presiding over the case, according to online court records.
Prosecutors allege that Sharkey was operating a vehicle without the mandatory interlock device when he struck and killed 18-year-old Dariel Rivera. Rivera was riding an electric scooter on Route 303 in Central Nyack, en route to his job at FedEx, when the incident occurred.
While the prosecution recommends a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to seven years in prison, Sharkey has pleaded not guilty and is currently free on $150,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to court on June 4.
The victim’s father, Sam Rivera, expressed his family’s profound dissatisfaction with the proposed sentence, feeling that it falls short of delivering justice for their loss.