HOUSTON, TEXAS (Sept. 3, 2014) — Charges have been filed against a suspect arrested in a fatal traffic accident at 1500 East Freeway (East Interstate Highway 10) about 10:10 p.m. on Saturday (August 30).

The suspect, Mackey Allen Keith, 61, is charged with driving while intoxicated in Harris County Criminal Court #11.

Arriving officers located the injured bicyclist lying in the roadway being tended to by citizens. Huntington Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and transported the critically injured male to UCI Medical Center. The male ultimately succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The bicyclist, a 55 year old resident of Huntington Beach, was identified by coroner’s officials Tuesday as 55-year-old Michael Peter Bastien.

An investigation revealed the Chevrolet truck was traveling south on S. Palmer Rd at a high rate of speed. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Karnily Bodunov, 18, of Woodburn. Bodunov drove over the crest of a hill and lost control of the truck which caused the vehicle to flip over and land upside down in a field off the side of the road.

Joseph Keleher, 24, was driving a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo eastbound on Baker Street when he lost control of the vehicle as it crossed over Rider Avenue, hit a curb, went up on a grass embankment, overturned and came to a stop on Edwards Street.

The passenger, Kevin Smith, 25, of Oakdale, was ejected from the vehicle. He was transported via Patchogue Fire Department Ambulance Company to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in Patchogue where he was pronounced dead.

But Sharp was charged in May only with driving while intoxicated and was allowed last month to plead guilty to a lesser charge — driving while ability impaired, a noncriminal violation.

He was fined $340 and paid a $260 surcharge. His license was suspended for 90 days, but he was allowed to get a conditional license so he could travel back and forth to work. He had to listen to a victims impact panel.

We hope Sharp did listen and learn from the stories of lives lost and ruined.

We hope he did not take to heart the more obvious lesson of his case: that his family connections allowed him to walk away from a serious crime with a minor punishment.

Sharp’s sentence should have been proportionate to the seriousness of the offense, and it wasn’t.

He should have been charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated and felony vehicular assault. Then, if he had been allowed to plead, he could have pleaded down to no less than driving while intoxicated, and would have faced more severe penalties, including losing his license for six months.

Sharp could have learned a different lesson: that he was going to be held responsible for his actions, despite his family ties. That would have discouraged him from further recklessness.