A Seattle driver was sentenced to 20 months behind bars Friday for killing a bicyclist in a hit-and-run crash two years ago near Seward Park.
Julian Hamilton, 25, pleaded guilty June 9 to a felony charge of vehicular homicide and was sentenced Friday by King County Superior Court Judge Annette Messitt.
Hamilton was driving a sedan that hit Michael Colmant, a 63-year-old grandfather, endurance athlete and deputy director at King County International Airport. The crash happened on Seward Park Avenue South on April 11, 2021.
Hamilton left the scene of the head-on crash but was ultimately arrested last November and later released pending trial.
Friday’s 20-month sentence was at the high end of the range set by state lawmakers, according to Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The judge also ordered Hamilton to pay $6,178 restitution and be evaluated for alcohol abuse.
He will receive credit for time served.
Taking note of Hamilton’s family and friends supporting him inside the courtroom, the judge encouraged him to make the most of the future and take immediate responsibility for mistakes. Colmant himself would have hoped Hamilton can rebuild his life, the judge said.
Keeping quiet and wearing a gray dress shirt, Hamilton hugged four people after the hearing in back of the small courtroom in downtown Seattle, until deputies applied handcuffs and escorted him out the hallway doors.
Colmant was a runner, swimmer and bicyclist who competed in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. At work, he was known as a mentor, and for helping repair the Boeing Field runway within two weeks after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.
Friends of Colmant and Seattle-area bicycling advocates held a memorial following the crash, and placed a white ghost bike with tribute messages by the roadside. The Metropolitan King County Council approved a $50,000 reward, an offer that produced a crucial tip to law enforcement, according to Q13 Fox News.
Seattle averages 28 traffic deaths and 180 serious injuries per year, which makes it safer than most U.S. cities while still failing to achieve its Vision Zero goal of eliminating severe crashes by 2030. Nationally, road fatalities soared from 36,355 in 2019 to 42,795 in 2022, a nearly 18% increase, including more than 7,500 pedestrians killed last year, the Governors Highway Safety Association announced this week.