ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A Slingerlands man was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison on Tuesday in Albany County Court for second-degree manslaughter and driving while ability impaired (DWAI). The Albany County District Attorney’s Office said Thomas McGrath, 73, admitted to the crash that caused the death of a Colonie High School senior on May 11, 2023.
McGrath pleaded guilty in April, confessing to crossing the center line on Route 85 in Bethlehem, hitting 17-year-old Michael Kleinke. Kleinke died in the hospital two days after the crash.
At the time of his arrest, McGrath tested positive for a mix of narcotics and other medications. The DA’s office said McGrath was on Vicodin infused with fentanyl, Methadone, and drank beer before driving. During McGrath’s sentencing, 21 victim impact statements were read, one from the victim’s father.
“Torture is all I can find for a word to equate to how it feels to attend a graduation and not watch my son walk across the stage,” the victim’s father wrote. “To have a celebration of life instead of a celebration of birth on June 28th. To wake up every day knowing the conversations we had would be the last. To have my daughter ask about her brother, she will never see again. To go past the crash scene every day on my way to and home from work.”
McGrath apologized to the Kleinke family at the sentencing. Many described Kleinke as a young man who loved working on cars, repairing family members’ lawnmowers, and caring for his younger relatives with paternal instincts.
Kleinke’s grandfather, Thomas Fine said even as a child, his grandson showed empathy and compassion for others.
“The only altercation he even got into was helping a child who was being bullied on the bus,” he said. “Michael stepped in to stop it.”
McGrath’s second-degree manslaughter sentence carries a prison sentence of four to 12 years, while the DWAI charge carries a one-year sentence. Both sentences will run concurrently.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
