Drunken driver who struck, killed pedestrian gets 14-year term
A repeat drunken driver who struck and killed a pedestrian on a dark, rainy street was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison.
Christopher J. Anderson, 36, stopped after he hit Bruce Williams about 9 p.m. on June 18, 2018, near North 28th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue. He had been driving with a woman and their week-old child.
Police noticed he appeared intoxicated and tests later showed he a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.308, almost four times the level considered proof of intoxication.
Anderson said Williams, 64, had come out into the street from between parked cars, and at his trial Anderson tried to show that he would have struck Williams regardless of intoxication. Two other drivers who said they noticed Williams stumbling in the street managed to avoid him.
A jury in December found him guilty of operating while intoxicated, resulting in death, and driving while intoxicated with a child in the car, and bail jumping.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz told Anderson she believes he didn’t intend to hit Williams but noted it was his fourth charge of operating while intoxicated, that he had a very high BAC and a baby in the car, and was on bail for a hit-andrun charge in Waukesha County.
Anderson’s attorney, Gerardo De Los Santos, said his client wasn’t speeding or driving recklessly, but just didn’t see Williams. He discussed Anderson’s work history as a barber and his parenting of two girls, the now-2-year-old and a 15-year-old.
De Los Santos suggested a six-year sentence would deter any future drunken driving as much as a longer sentence.
Anderson apologized and said the time since the fatal crash has opened his mind.
“Today I can say I’m an alcoholic,” he said. Protasiewicz said that was encouraging insight, but still thought 14 years in prison was necessary to protect the public. She imposed eight years of extended supervision after he is released, and credited 613 days to the sentence.