WESTON, Fla. – A man was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday following a May 2021 crash that killed a bicyclist in Weston.
Deputies said Sunny LaValle, 44, left her home to ride her bike at about 8 a.m. on May 23, 2021, but never returned home.
According to authorities, a driver, later identified as Oion Syvell Johnson, had struck her along the southbound bike lane of Bonaventure Boulevard. He stayed at the scene, but did not call 911.
“How could you not call 911?” LaValle’s mother, Cheri Surloff, asked Johnson in court Tuesday. “Any of us can have an accident -- it’s what you did after.”
“What you did after she was hit by you reveals who you are,” Surloff added.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, traffic homicide investigators determined that Johnson was sleep deprived and had been partying and drinking alcohol which caused him to fall asleep while driving when he hit LaValle from behind.
Johnson, who is from Syracuse, New York, was in South Florida at the time for a friend’s birthday, authorities said.
They said he was found nearly seven months later in his hometown and was arrested.
LaValle’s husband, David LaValle, told Local 10 News after Johnson’s arrest that the months after his wife’s death had been incredibly difficult.
“She was perfection of a woman, perfection of a mom,” he said. “All she cared about was making everyone’s day better.”
David LaValle was also present Tuesday for Johnson’s sentencing hearing.
Johnson was ultimately sentenced to two years in prison, receiving credit for the 263 days he has already served.
Following his prison sentence, Johnson will serve 10 years of probation.
Surloff told Local 10 News her grief and anger go beyond punishing Johnson. She says paramedics did not follow potentially life-saving trauma protocol that day and the city did not have its cameras in the area operational at the time.
Johnson was also reportedly not drug or alcohol tested by responding law enforcement.
Surloff is now pushing for a new state law requiring exactly that.
“Can we not in Florida pass the law called Sunny’s Law, that’s mandated that if you really injured someone or you kill someone, you’ve got a mandate,” Surloff said.