Damon Thomas Latuch gets three years for DUI fatal in Cobb County Georgia. He told others he had hit a deer when he killed and fled after striking bicyclist.
Damon Thomas Latuch, 28, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to homicide by vehicle in the first degree.
Assistant District Attorney Marty First said the evidence would show that Mr. Latuch had been out drinking at a bar with friends in the hours before the fatal crash on April 10, 2013, that he had been told at two different times in those hours that he was too drunk to drive, and that he had refused to let someone else drive.
Yet Mr. Latuch was driving his pickup truck on South Marietta Parkway near the CCT station before dawn that morning when he struck Joseph Gathambiri, a deaf man who was riding his bicycle to work, ADA First said. Mr. Latuch did not stop, and he later told coworkers he had hit a deer in that area.
Mr. Latuch was arrested by Marietta Police investigators hours after the crash. He has been free on bond since May 20, 2013.
On Thursday morning, Cobb Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram sentenced Mr. Latuch to 15 years, with 5 years to serve in custody and the rest on probation. He was also ordered to pay the victim’s family more than $9,000 in restitution.
Marietta attorney Clay Thompson represented Mr. Latuch.
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