STAUNTON — A man whose vehicle struck and killed a Waynesboro man riding an electric bicycle last September was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday.
Samuel Call, 37, of Waynesboro, received the sentence in Augusta County Circuit Court after entering an Alford plea to involuntary vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and hit-and-run, said Holly Rasheed, a senior assistant Augusta County Commonwealth’s attorney.
Under Virginia law, an Alford plea is entered when a defendant agrees there is enough evidence to convict him, but it is not an outright admission of guilt.
Rasheed said Call also must serve five years of supervised probation, and he received an indefinite driving license suspension.
Call was driving a Kia Sorrento last September near the intersection of U.S. 340 and Ladd Road in Augusta County when his vehicle struck Dylan Knowles, 25, of Waynesboro. Knowles died from the crash impact. He was driving an electric bicycle.
Call fled but was later arrested by the Waynesboro Police Department.
When establishing a GoFundMe page to pay Knowles’ funeral expenses last year, a family member said the deceased man had served in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer. Knowles was described as “an amazing, caring, loving, goofy father, son, uncle, brother and friend.”
Judge Sean Workowski asked Call if he had anything he wanted to say before sentencing, Rasheed said. She said Call apologized to the Knowles family before the sentence was pronounced. One of the conditions of the sentence is that Call has no contact with the Knowles family.