Old Lyme Man Sentenced In 2017 Fatal Pedestrian Crash

OLD LYME, CT — An Old Lyme man charged in a 2017 fatal pedestrian crash has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended after 2 1/2 years served, with three years probation, The Day reported. The wreck claimed the life of 19-year-old Yeison Gomez-Cruz.

Daniel Coffee, 38, of Boston Post Road, was charged in 2018 with evading responsibility in a motor vehicle accident involving death, misconduct with a motor vehicle, and possession of less than half an ounce of cannabis.

Coffee was driving a 2000 Toyota Tundra pickup truck at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2017, when he struck Gomez-Cruz, who was walking on Boston Post Road near Sill Lane, according to police. Coffee fled the scene following the crash and was later found by state police troopers.

Gomez-Cruz died of his injuries nearly two weeks later on Nov. 11.

Gomez-Cruz had been walking home from his job at a nearby restaurant when the accident occurred, The Day reported. Coffee has maintained that he left the scene of the crash because he thought he had hit a deer.