A 24-year-old Plainview man was sentenced to 1 1/3 - 4 years in prison for causing the 2009 crash that killed 45-year-old Suffolk County Police Officer Glen Ciano. Jose Borbon's blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit, and he was talking on a cell phone when he struck Officer Ciano's patrol car in Commack, Long Island, causing it to crash into a pole and burst into flames, trapping Officer Ciano in the car. 
Glen was killed on 2/22/09, in his 22nd year on the job, and was the 22nd officer to die in the line of duty in Suffolk. Glen and his wife Susan, the parents of two children, would have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last year.
Jose Borbon has been in jail, serving a one-year sentence on an unrelated DWI charge stemming from an arrest six weeks before killing Officer Ciano. Borbon worked out a plea deal on a charge of first-degree vehicular manslaughter; had he gone to trial, he might have faced up to ten years.
This article in the Huntington Patch includes emotional statements made by friends and family just before sentencing.
I had the privilege of working with Glen in the Second Precinct in the late 1980s and early 90s. He is dearly missed by his family, friends, and colleagues.
If the drunk driving wasn't bad enough, add in talking on the cellphone and I would have thought surely he would have gotten at least 10 years. Makes you wonder if he will straighten up after this or not. A tragic loss.
ReplyDeleteMason
Thoughts in Progress
Such a useless death. So sad.
ReplyDeleteHi Mason,
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know who he was on the phone with, while driving drunk at 4:45 am. Poor Glen was racing to back up another officer when the drunk driver crashed into him, and sadly, went right into a pole & burst into flames. I can't even think about it ~ I hope he passed quickly and painlessly. He was a cop's cop ~ fair, firm, loyal, everything you'd wish all cops could be.
The Daily News had once reported that Borbon had also been charged with assaulting an officer in 2006, criminal mischief in 2007 and has caused five auto wrecks...scary!
Hi Charles,
Thanks for visiting ~ always a pleasure to see you :-)