Texas man sentenced for fatal 2022 hit and run – NBC New York

A Texas man has been sentenced to nearly a decade in prison for a fatal hit-and-run last year on the Garden State Parkway.

Fornice Boatner, 33, was sentenced Tuesday to 9 years in prison for second-degree intentionally leaving the scene of a car accident resulting in death, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Cicon said.

The sentencing stems from the events of May 2022. On the morning of May 25, 2022, New Jersey State Police responded to a report of a person in a ditch adjacent to the north side of Garden State Parkway in the Town of Woodbridge. When officers found the body near mile marker 130.4, it was identified as Elizabeth resident Felipe Dos Santos, 31, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators determined that three days earlier at approximately 1 a.m., Dos Santos was walking northbound on the shoulder of the road near milepost 130.4, when he was struck by a silver 2007 Dodge Ram that fled the scene. A subsequent investigation found that the driver and registered owner of the vehicle was Boatner.

Boatner allegedly made repairs to the vehicle to hide damage sustained during the hit-and-run.

On May 28, 2022, Butner was arrested by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at his Texas residence. Boatner was charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death, obstruction and obstruction, and tampering with evidence. Extradited to New Jersey on June 10, 2022.

Later, on January 30 of this year, Boatner pleaded guilty to second-degree intentionally leaving the scene of a car accident resulting in death, but failed to appear at sentencing. However, earlier this month, Boatner was arrested and charged with bail jumping.