ITHACA, N.Y. — A man was sentenced to repay more than $22,000 in restitution after a drunken Newfield wreck in January injured his teenage son, destroyed his sister’s vehicle and damaged a utility pole.
Angelo Baez pleaded guilty to felony aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle in July. He was sentenced to one to three years in prison Thursday afternoon and ordered to pay $13,348.11 to compensate for his sister’s totaled car and $8, 985.30 to repair damages to a utility pole he struck.
Baez previously confessed to driving drunk on Jan. 11 when he took his sister’s vehicle without her permission, hit an icy spot in the road and lost control of the vehicle. His blood alcohol content was .15 percent. The legal limit is .08 percent.
His 13-year-old son, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was hospitalized for several days after the incident.
“The defendant is right that he has hurt the two people that he loves most — his son and his sister,” Assitant District Attorney Diane Lama said. “I will give him credit for taking responsibility.”
But she said he still has to serve an appropriate amount of time in prison for his crimes.
Baez will serve his time concurrent with a 30-month sentence he was issued for violating probation for a second-degree attempted robbery charge in 2011.