Background: News footage of the March 6, 2023, crash that killed Chelsy Torres and Noah Rodriguez (News 12 New Jersey). Inset (left): Solomon Valentine (Bridgeport Police Department). Inset (top right): Chelsy Torres (GoFundMe). Inset (bottom right): Noah Rodriguez (Funeraria Luz de Paz).
A Connecticut man who rammed into a vehicle carrying a young family, killing two people, will spend more than a decade behind bars.
Solomon Valentine, 42, pleaded no contest in February to two charges of first-degree manslaughter and one count each of second-degree assault and reckless driving. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison as punishment for causing the March 2023 car crash that killed 24-year-old Chelsy Torres and her 4-year-old nephew Noah Rodriguez.
According to local news outlet CTpost, Torres was in the vehicle with her sister Ashley Aquino, also Noah's mother, and Noah's younger brother Noel, who was 2 years old at the time. The two sisters were on their way to sign a lease for a new apartment where they were planning to raise their children together.
Prosecutors said Valentine was driving 74 miles per hour right before slamming into the vehicle carrying Torres, Aquino, and Aquino's sons on the afternoon of March 6, 2023. The vehicle with the young family inside was stopped at a red light in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and prosecutors said Valentine "had his foot to the floor as if it was his own personal racetrack, not slowing down or stopping for anybody."
Torres was pronounced dead at the scene. Noah was airlifted to the hospital and died days later. Aquino and Noel were also injured. Aquino told News 12 New Jersey, "He definitely is a miracle child. I was scared that I was going to lose both my kids, and he proved me wrong."
Aquino told CTPost after the sentencing, "Having to explain to a 5-year-old that the urn in our living room is his brother is very traumatic. Memories are all that I have. I lost the two most important people in my life."
Torres' other sister, Destiny Agramonte, started a GoFundMe for the baby girl Torres left behind, writing, "That girl is part of her and she's what we have left."
Valentine was also injured in the crash and was brought to a nearby hospital, where he left against medical advice. While he was there, his blood tested positive for PCP and cannabis. He was arrested eight months after the fatal crash. He read a statement in court in which he apologized to the family of the loved ones he killed.
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