A driver was sentenced Friday in Montgomery County Circuit Court to eight years in prison for striking and killing a couple walking to a polling place in Gaithersburg on Election Day 2022.
“Our parents are gone because of one person’s careless decision,” Nicky Ortiz, son of Miguel Antonio Ortiz, 65, and Ana Margarita Ortiz, 70, said on Zoom during the sentencing at the Rockville court. “We are emotionally scarred for the rest of our lives.”
On Nov. 8, the couple, who lived in Gaithersburg, was crossing School Drive to vote at Fields Road Elementary School when they were struck by Davinder Singh, 58, of Gaithersburg, who was driving westbound in a 2007 Toyota Prius, according to Montgomery County police. The couple was taken to a nearby hospital where they were pronounced dead.
The couple were struck while in a crosswalk, County councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-Large) tweeted at the time. Singh remained on the scene after the collision, according to police.
On July 31, Circuit Court Judge Bibi Berry found Singh guilty of homicide by a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, driving while under the influence of alcohol and multiple related charges, according to court records.
On Friday, Berry sentenced Singh to 10 years in prison with two years suspended and five years of probation. She also imposed fines totaling $2,000.
“The loss of Miguel and Ana Ortiz left a devastating void for their four adult children and multiple grandchildren,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in a press release after the sentencing. “We express our deepest condolences to the grieving family. This case centers around public safety and we thank the judge for imposing a lengthy sentence.”
Singh was represented by public defender Clare Carlson, who advocated that he be placed in a residential facility for his long-standing alcohol addiction.
“The main takeaway here is that Mr. Singh has a minimal criminal history that is directly tied to this problem,” Carlson said at the sentencing.
However, Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle O’Grady argued the case wasn’t about addiction because Singh made the choice that morning to get behind the wheel while drunk and should be held accountable for the lives he took.
“No matter what kind of life a person has led, no matter what has happened in a person’s life that has led them to a particular moment in time, there is a punitive cost to be imposed by the criminal justice system for the taking another person’s life,” O’Grady said.
After the collision, community members expressed concern about pedestrian fatalities in the area. In 2022, before the crash occurred, three other collisions were reported near the intersection of Muddy Branch Road and School Drive, according to Montgomery County police spokesperson Casandra Tressler.
On Feb. 13, Khalid Shakir Scriven, 27, of Gaithersburg became the county’s first pedestrian fatality in 2024 when he was struck and killed on Georgia Avenue near downtown Silver Spring. In 2023, there were 15 pedestrian fatalities in the county, the same number as in 2022, according to Zero Deaths Maryland, which is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office.
The county has its Vision Zero plan in place, which allocates resources to help eliminate serious injury and fatal collisions on county roads for vehicle occupants, pedestrians and bicyclists by the end of 2030.