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Rivkin Admits Guilt In DUI Death Of Bicyclist
September 3, 2009
Christina Rae Rivkin pleaded guilty this morning to being drunk when she struck and killed a bicyclist before fleeing the scene back in June.
When Rivkin hit and killed Steele on June 10, her blood alcohol level was more than three and a half times the legal limit, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The FHP sayid Rivkin’s blood alcohol levels tested at .297 and .295. The legal limit in Florida is .08. The FHP said Rivkin was so drunk that she did not know her own name when she hit the bicyclist. She left the scene, and nearly hit a deputy’s cruiser when she returned about an hour later.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Rivkin was traveling westbound on Nine Mile Road when she crossed the white line near Brewster Street and struck Steele as he was riding his bicycle about 11:15 p.m.. Troopers said Steele and his bicycle were dragged under Rivkin’s GMC Yukon for about a quarter of a mile. Rivkin then fled the scene.
A passerby called 911 after discovering the body in the roadway. About an hour later, Rivkin returned to the scene, where she “skidded to an abrupt stop nearly striking the patrol car of Deputy Mark Smith,” the FHP report said. She “appeared extremely intoxicated. She smelled strongly of alcoholic beverage and her speech was slurred. She could not walk without assistance. (She) could not remember her name or say where she was,” the report continued.
Rivkin, according to the FHP, refused to perform a breath test, and a blood sample was taken to determine her blood alcohol level.
“He jumped out in front of me. What was I suppose to do?” Rivkin told a trooper at the scene.
The FHP says that the front of Rivkin’s vehicle had damage consistent with hitting the bicyclist, and “there appeared to be blood on the front of her vehicle.”
Rivkin had at least two prior DUI arrests and five other moving violations, according to the FHP.
Steele was riding his bicycle to work as part of the stock crew at the Nine Mile Road Winn Dixie when the accident occurred, according to family members. Steele and his wife, Brittney, 20, only owned one car, and family members said he wanted his wife to have the car for her morning commute. He rode the bicycle so that she did not have to drive him to work so that she would be well rested for her job.
Comments
9 Responses to “Rivkin Admits Guilt In DUI Death Of Bicyclist”
May God bless you!
Hey, she could have asked for a jury trial and got set free…Jason Cook did.
I am so angry at our court system. You can kill someone and be set free! I am thankful she had the heart to admit her wrong. I pray she will get the help she needs. She will face her punishment.
To all the “pill sellers”. When the driver is stoned on pills or other dope they can do the same thing. The pill sellers should get long jail time for the heart break and the family problems they cause. I’ve seen young women “working the streets” to pay for their drug habits—it’s a great life for them.
If she had a gun in the drunken stupor she was in and deliberately used it as she
as she did her car, she would get 20 years to life. Sadly, the man on the bicycle
would still be just as DEAD.
sad people don’t take drunk driving seriously. Not the law, I mean, the drunks
She won’t get get diddly compared… to the pill sellers you watch this story. Thanks William for keeping us updated.
She’ll get 15 years prison and 15 years probation. Doesn’t seem right when you get 15 for pills like Justice said but that is how the stupid law is written.
If you can get 15 years in prison for selling a few pills, this girl better get Life Without Parole…. she actually killed someone.
I hope the judge will look at her record before sentencing. She is a danger to herself and anyone in her path. She needs to be put in prison for a long time and required to have rehabilitation ( yes, Iknow it only works if the person is willing to accept the help) so she and her family may someday have a normal? life.