Driver Who Killed Harlem DJ Sentenced To 90 Days In Prison

HARLEM, NY — A hit-and-run driver who killed a Harlem DJ as he was leaving a performance in Brooklyn will serve three months in jail, city officials said.

Kevin Ozoria was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in jail, five years probation and 100 hours of community service, City Council Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez said. Ozoria was behind the wheel of a car that struck Jean Paul Guerrero, known as DJ Jinx Paul, while he was crossing an East New York street in 2016.

Guerrero's father said that the family is happy that Ozoria will face punishment for the hit-and-run, but felt that the sentence was too lenient.

"We are still hurting over the death of our son. I am happy we were able to get some type of justice, but I do not think it was enough," Humberto Guerrero said in a statement.

Guerrero's death led to the passage of a bill in the New York City council that toughened punishments for drivers that leave the scene of a collision, Rodriguez said. The lawmaker, who represents Upper Manhattan and whose district includes Guerrero's former home, said that the city needs to address a rise in hit-and-run collisions of 25 percent in recent years.

"On average, we have seen a hit-and-run occur at least once a week. We must learn from this case to ensure that we keep vigilant and reject these statistics as unacceptable," Rodriguez said in a statement.

Ozoria was arrested in November 2017, almost one year after emergency responders found the 39-year-old DJ lying in the street, prosecutors said. Ozoria initially confessed days after the hit-and-run, but was released because police lacked evidence to arrest him.

It wasn't until investigators found surveillance footage near the crash scene that tied Ozoria's 2010 Honda Accord — which needed repairs for a shattered windshield — to the collision that police were able to charge him, said prosecutors.