WARREN (WWJ) -- A driver who ran over and killed a 5-year old Warren boy will spend 20 to 40 years in prison.
A Macomb County judge on Thursday sentenced 22-year-old Maurice Sumler of Detroit, two months after a jury found him guilty of second degree murder.
“The loss of such a young life is tragic,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido, in a news release announcing the sentencing.
Police said Sumler was trying to beat a red light when he hit Preston Singleton as the child on a bike was crossing with family members in a crosswalk on Van Dyke Ave. near Stephenson, in June of last year.
Sumler drove away from the scene, and Singleton died on the way to the hospital.
A few hours later, police found Sumler's SUV in a Taco Bell parking lot and located the suspect at a nearby gas station, where he was taken into custody.
Sumler admitted that he knew he'd hit the child, but said he didn't stop because he was late for work.
The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office originally charged Sumler with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. At the preliminary exam, however, an assistant prosecutors requested that the charge be increased to second degree murder, and the judge agreed.
A GoFundMe account for the boy's family has raised more than $35,000.
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