Driver in fatal hit and run sentenced
The Arizona Western College football player convicted of a hit-and-run accident that killed a 15-year-old Yuma boy earlier this year was sentenced to two terms of probation as part of his plea agreement.
Nathan Tom Bartley, 19, was given 36 months of supervised probation for attempted obstruction of criminal justice and for tampering with physical evidence, during a sentencing hearing in Yuma County Superior Court on Thursday.
In handing down the sentence, Superior Court Judge John Nelson ordered that the two terms of probation be served concurrently, meaning at the same time, instead of one beginning after the other one ends. Bartley was also ordered to complete 360 hours of community service at a rate of 24 hours a week.
Bartley pleaded guilty to the charges in the plea agreement Sept. 23. In return, a charge of failure to stop at the scene of an accident involving a fatality was dismissed. Also, if he violates the terms of his probation, he will be subject to a prison sentence ranging from five months to two years.
Prior to sentencing, the prosecution asked the judge to include a year in county jail as part of the sentence. The judge denied the request, saying Bartley had no prior criminal record.
Bartley, who was accompanied to the hearing by family members, issued an apology to the victim's family before he was sentenced, saying he would never forget the pain the accident has caused and how sorry he was for his actions that day.
Bartley left the scene of the Jan. 13 accident after the vehicle he was driving struck Anthony Acosta, 15, who was riding his bike in the 2600 block of South Avenue 9E.
According to the Yuma Police Department's investigation, Acosta and another boy had been riding their bicycles in the area. As they crossed Avenue 9E, a northbound vehicle driven by Bartley collided with one of the bicyclists.
The vehicle then continued northbound as it fled the scene. Acosta was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he died.
During the investigation, the suspect's vehicle was found by an AWC police officer in a college parking lot about an hour and a half after the incident. Several witnesses were interviewed as part of YPD's investigation, including a man and two women who were passengers in Bartley's vehicle.
Bartley, who is from Waipahu, Hawaii, was a freshman at AWC and an offensive lineman for the Matador football team at the time of the accident.
Although Bartley's sentencing was in Yuma County Superior Court, the La Paz County Attorney's Office was handling the prosecution. The case was transferred to La Paz due to a conflict of interest in the Yuma County Attorney's Office. A prosecutor's family members were witnesses in the case.
