The Connecticut man, who was 20 years old at the time, was given a sentence of sixteen years in prison on Friday for causing an automobile accident that resulted in the death of a Hartford police officer and the serious injury of the officer’s partner. The accident occurred after the guy fled a traffic stop.
While family of the officers were present in Hartford Superior Court, Richard Barrington, who was a high school junior at the time of the tragedy in 2023 and was 18 years old at the time, expressed his regret for the fatal accident.
The injuries that Officer Robert “Bobby” Garten, 34, sustained resulted in his death. Garten was a member of the Hartford Police Department for eight years, and his father had retired from the service as a detective. The officer who was driving their vehicle, Officer Brian Kearney, who was Garten’s partner, sustained extensive injuries.
According to the authorities, Barrington ran away from a traffic stop that was being handled by other cops, skipped two red lights, and collided with the passenger side of Garten and Kearney’s cruiser on September 6, 2023. The cruiser was responding to an emergency call that was unrelated to the incident.
During the court proceedings, Barrington expressed his regret by saying, “I want to apologise for all of the days, months, and years of pain and grief that I’ve caused and are currently causing.” “The anguish and sorrow that you are experiencing should not be something that any mother, father, sibling, child, or friend should have to go through.”
Manslaughter, assault in the first degree, and interference with a law enforcement official were the charges that Barrington entered a guilty plea to in April.
Garten’s family said they wanted Barrington to serve more than 40 years in prison,
“This is it, this is what Mr. Barrington gets for killing my brother?” William Garten told members of the media after the sentencing. Since we failed to live up to Bobby’s expectations today, we will have to find another method to honour him in the future. This is the conclusion of this kind of story.
