Driver gets 4 years for fatal Aurora hit-and-run

A motorist who drove off after fatally striking a pedestrian along Butterfield Road in Aurora was sentenced Monday to four years in prison.

Rocio Garza, 23, of Elmhurst, had pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the accident that killed 30-year-old Robert Vincze.

Vincze, of Adrian, Mich., was hit about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 12, 2010, after his friend's vehicle ran out of gas near Butterfield and Eola roads.

The accident happened as he and the friend, Jason Freitas of Naperville, pulled a gas can on a snow sled near the roadway.

Initially, Garza stopped and spoke to Freitas. But he told police he “freaked out” and fled after returning to his vehicle to move it off the road.

“Obviously, he should have stayed,” defense attorney Mike Botti said. “He is very, very remorseful. He wishes it never would have happened.”

Freitas said Vincze, a mechanic, was in the area to visit his father, who lives in Naperville. Garza was returning home from his job as an event promoter, Botti said.

Garza had been scheduled for a sentencing hearing Monday but instead reached an agreement with prosecutors for the four-year term.

With credit for more than a year served in the county jail, he could be eligible for parole in about six months.

Freitas said Vincze was not the type to hold a grudge.

“He would have forgiven (Garza),” Freitas said. “I'm sure he would have.”

He said family members recently put up a cross at the accident scene in memorial to the victim.