Driver gets over 8 years for hitting, killing pedestrian while drunk
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 2, 2022
EVERETT — A Marysville man was sentenced Monday to 8½ years in prison for hitting and killing an Everett pedestrian in 2020.
On the afternoon of Jan. 24, 2020, Richard DeFrancesco and a friend went for a walk in the Lowell neighborhood of Everett.
They walked through Lowell Park, up an embankment onto the shoulder of South 2nd Avenue. DeFrancesco’s friend remembers seeing a Mercury Cougar heading north at a high rate of speed. Instead of following the curve in the road, it continued straight through the shoulder, hitting DeFrancesco and propelling him into the air, witnesses reported. The friend dove to the side.
About two weeks later, after being taken off life support, DeFrancesco died at the hospital. The Snohomish County medical examiner confirmed he died from a traumatic brain injury and other injuries suffered from being hit by a car. He was 73.
Alfaro Gomez, 45, was driving the Cougar. Initially, he told police that the victim and the friend were crossing the road and he wasn’t able to stop in time, according to charging papers. After analyzing video footage, a detective concluded the defendant was driving well over the 30 mph speed limit prior to the crash.
At the scene, an officer noted the Marysville man smelled of alcohol and had trouble walking.
Alfaro Gomez was taken to the hospital, where a sample of his blood was taken more than five hours after the crash. He had a 0.11 blood-alcohol content level, above the legal limit to drive, according to court documents. He also had 2.9 nanograms per milliliter of active THC in his system, less than the state’s 5 nanogram limit.
DeFrancesco was born in Pennsylvania before moving with his family to California, according to an obituary. While there, he got married in 1973. After the birth of their first child, they moved to Washington. He worked as a commercial appraiser, was very active in his church and loved racquet sports, cars and kayaking. He also enjoyed traveling.
But the greatest joy of his life was spending time with his grandchildren, the obituary states.
Alfaro Gomez had no prior felony convictions on his record, according to court records. He was convicted twice of reckless driving misdemeanors: once in 1999, and again in 2012.
Last month, Alfaro Gomez pleaed guilty to vehicular homicide. Under state sentencing guidelines, he faced between 8½ and 10½ years in prison. Deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow argued for the low end of that range. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Karen Moore agreed.
“I hope you don’t dwell on this for the rest of your life,” Moore told Alfaro Gomez, “but that you don’t forget.”
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
