Deputy Prosecutor Doug Shae said that nearly the whole court was crying when Michael D. Burke, 34, of Wenatchee made his tearful apology for hitting and killing Arnulfo Garcia Maldonado, 47, also of Wenatchee, then running after the accident.

The vehicular homicide charge had been dropped and instead Burke pleaded guilty in Chelan County Superior court to causing a hit and run injury accident and negligent driving.

People remained crying while the sentence of three and a half years was read to the court.

“It was so emotionally draining,” Shae said. “It was like a funeral.”

Burke’s immediate family members wrote letters to the Judge asking for leniency. In her letter the Burke’s wife, Linda, asked that he be allowed to go through counseling and rehabilitation, rather than be sentenced to jail time, a seemingly unrealistic request when a man with a family is dead.

Keith Howard, Burke’s attorney, asked the court to consider another form of leniency by granting his client a special offender sentence that would have allowed him to attend counseling and rehabilitation while in prison and then be released after only 18 months.

Judge John Bridges considered the pleas for leniency, but instead decided to sentence Burke to three years and five months, which is in the high end of the sentencing range.

Hit and Run Fatality Accident

Garcia’s wife told police that her husband had been drinking beer at their home at an unspecified time in the early evening of Sept. 19, 2009. In the statement she said that he wanted to drive somewhere, but she took away his keys, so he took off on foot.

Around 1 a.m., Garcia was crossing North Wenatchee Avenue near Shari’s Restaurant. Another driver who stopped to allow Garcia to cross the road said he saw a dark pickup speed around the corner and strike Garcia, then speed away after the impact.

The driver called 911 and an ambulance rushed to the scene and drove Garcia to Central Washington Hospital.

Concerned family members went looking for Garcia when he didn’t come home. They quickly came upon the accident scene. They saw his characteristic cowboy hat laying in the road and knew something bad happened. Police at the scene told them to go to Central Washington Hospital.

Garcia died two hours after the accident in the emergency ward.

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

At 4:45 a.m., East Wenatchee police officers keeping an eye out for a dark-colored pickup with damage to the front found one parked near the Cedars Inn off Valley Mall Parkway. They immediately identified Burke as the registered owner and began searching for him.

It wasn’t until 18 hours later that they found Burke and arrested him outside the Roaster and Ale House in downtown Wenatchee. He’d gone there after drinking at Sharx Bar & Bites, across North Wenatchee Avenue.

In statements made to police by Burke and another man who hung out with him on the night of the hit and run, after Burke hit and killed Garcia, he drove to the Clearwater Steakhouse & Saloon in East Wenatchee where he commenced to drink with a friend. He told his friend that he was driving around 70 mph when he plowed over someone with his truck. Burke then left Clearwater and went to the Shari’s in East Wenatchee where the accident had happened. The investigation had since cleared from the scene allowing him to eat his food in peace.

Wrongful Death

In his plea statement, Burke admitted that he had the smell of alcohol on his breath at the time of the incident and that he caused the accident that killed Garcia. But Shae said that since Burke was not found and arrested until 22 hours after the accident, there was no blood-alcohol or breathalyzer data to prove that he was driving under the influence at the actual time of the accident. This is critical for the vehicular homicide charge to stick.

Though we can only speculate as to whether Burke was drunk at the time of incident, generally sober drivers don’t scream through an intersection at 70 mph with cars waiting for a pedestrian to cross the street. As for running after hitting the pedestrian that is just a character issue for Burke, as is returning for food with a view of the scene. Regardless of Burke’s tearful apology, that still does not bring Garcia back.

These sort of wrongful death scenarios happen all the time on American roads, but they don’t need to. If you or a loved one suffer a serious personal injury or are killed by a drunk driver then call Phillips Webster to find out your next move.

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• Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations
• Accident Investigation and Reconstruction
• Car Accidents and Insurance Coverage