Driver who killed cyclist gets six months in jail
A Middle Island man charged with driving under the influence of drugs following a 2012 collision that killed a bicyclist in Calverton has pleaded guilty to that charge in Riverhead Town Court and was sentenced to six months in jail.
William Slatton, 31, of Ivy Meadow Court in Middle Island took the plea before Riverhead Judge Richard Ehlers last Tuesday.
Additional charges that included acting in a manner injurious to a child and having an uninspected car were dismissed in town court.
Mr. Slatton was arrested on Nov. 1, 2012 when he hit and killed a bicyclist with his car on Route 25 in Calverton after veering into oncoming traffic and hitting Steven Kane, 57, of Brightwaters, who was riding a bike in the oncoming lane’s road shoulder.
Mr. Kane was a competitive biker who worked as an engineer at Brookhaven Lab and often rode on his lunch break.
Mr. Slatton had his four young children in his car at the time of the collision.
His attorney, Joseph Cozzo, told The News-Review in November that his client was under the influence of methadone at the time of the crash, and that he was using methadone as part of his court-ordered treatment for heroin addiction.
“He was on methadone and he was getting it from a Suffolk County clinic,” Mr. Cozzo said at the time.
Mr. Slatton was never indicted for the DWAI charge.
“The toxicology results of the defendant’s blood did not provide vehicular crimes bureau prosecutors with the evidence necessary to prove our burden of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as to the charge of driving while ability impaired,” said Bob Clifford, a spokesman for District Attorney Thomas Spota.
However, he was subsequently arrested again by Suffolk County Police in mid-November on charges of fourth-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property — both felonies — stemming from an allegation that he used a credit card stolen from a Middle Island home, according to police.
He has been indicted on those charges.
In addition, he also is facing charges of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance stemming from a 2007 arrest for which he also was indicted.
