Left: Thomas Riggio III (Orleans Parish Jail). Right: Michael Milam (GoFundMe).
A Louisiana teenager who fled the scene after slamming into a bartender riding his bicycle home from work will spend nearly a decade behind bars.
Thomas Riggio III, 19, pleaded guilty in October to hit-and-run causing death for striking 36-year-old Michael Milam last year near New Orleans” famed French Quarter. A judge on Friday sentenced Riggio to nine years in prison.
The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to local NBC affiliate WDSU that Milam had just finished his shift in the early morning hours of July 12 and was riding his bicycle home. Meanwhile, Riggio had partied with friends that night in the area. He had cocaine in his system and his blood alcohol concentration was .07 about 12 hours after the crash.
Milam was trying to turn onto Alvar Street at St. Claude Avenue when Riggio struck him with his Infiniti and drove away, leaving him for dead.
“Riggio’s actions ended the life of a hardworking New Orleanian who was simply trying to get home; and his decision to flee the scene rather than help the victim speaks volumes about the seriousness of this crime,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said in a statement.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Milam had recently moved from Houston to work at Cafe Lafitte in Exile, a well-known gay bar on Bourbon Street. Prior to returning to New Orleans, Milam spent several years as a bartender in the Houston area and was known for his volunteering efforts in the gay community there.
“Milam had recently returned to New Orleans, a city he loved, to continue his bartending career in the heart of the French Quarter’s LGBTQ community,” a GoFundMe said. “Though he had been back only a short time, his presence was already being felt by colleagues and patrons alike.”
For his part, Riggio apologized to Milam’s family during the sentencing hearing.
“Since the day of the accident, I’ve wanted nothing more than to look each and every one of you in the eyes and apologize,” he said, per the Times-Picayune. “I could not begin to imagine how I would feel if any of my three siblings were taken from me … the way I took your brother.”
Also according to the newspaper, some of Milam’s siblings felt the hit-and-run charge was too lenient, and that Riggio may have benefited from having a stepfather in the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office.
District Judge Kimya Holmes pointed out how Riggio’s poor driving history seemed to escalate from slamming into another car while doing doughnuts and speeding into a ditch in a separate incident.
“He was charged with hitting someone and not giving aid. Not even stopping to see what it was that he hit. I just don’t understand that. I don’t understand not seeing if you hit a human, not seeing if you hit a dog,” Holmes reportedly said. “If he would have just stayed, none of us would be in this situation right now.”
