NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A Brooklyn man who pleaded guilty to driving intoxicated on the Long Island Expressway in 2022 and crashing into another car, killing a nine-year-old boy, was sentenced on Friday, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said.
Travis Dickson, 32, was sentenced to four and a half to 13.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter, assault, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in February.
On Aug. 22, 2022, Dickson was driving westbound in a 2018 BMW 540i on the Long Island Expressway at 119 mph, while under the influence of alcohol and weed, according to court documents and the guilty plea.
The defendant struck the back of a 2019 Toyota Corolla, and prosecutors said that Dickson made no attempts to use his car’s brakes before the impact. Inside the Toyota was 9-year-old Angel Salas, restrained in a booster seat, and his father who was driving.
Angel was rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition with injuries from the crash. Two days later, he was deemed brain-dead.
The victim was removed from life support after arrangements were made to donate his organs to other children.
Angel’s father suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash.
After the crash, prosecutors said that Dickson showed signs of intoxication, and he admitted to smoking weed, which was found on his person.
Dickson’s blood was drawn three hours after the crash, and in addition to the presence of THC in his system, he had a blood alcohol concentration of .14%. The legal limit is .08%.
Police also determined that at the time of the crash, the defendant’s New York license was revoked.
Dickson’s sentence is only slightly beneath the maximum sentence of five to 15 years, which was recommended by the People.
“As this case clearly illustrates, drunk and drug-impaired drivers are a danger to our communities and often times cause collisions which turn fatal for innocent victims,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “A child lost their life because of the selfish actions of the defendant.”
In the weeks after Angel’s death, his mother, Juliana, did a sit-down interview with NBC New York and called for elevated charges against Dickson.
"I did things to make [Angel’s] life as good as I could provide," Juliana said. "Without him being here, there goes my reason for fighting. That's how it feels right now."
"An innocent child's life was taken because someone just made really, really foolish decisions," she added.