Driver Gets Five Years In OC Pedestrian Fatality

SNOW HILL -- A Virginia man who struck and killed a pedestrian on Coastal Highway last Memorial Day weekend while driving drunk and then fled the scene was sentenced last week to five years in jail.

Around 1:20 a.m. on May 28, Ocean City Police responded to the area of 54th Street and Coastal Highway for a reported hit-and-run accident involving a pedestrian. The investigation revealed the pedestrian, later identified as Matthew Jude Cheswick, was attempting to cross Coastal Highway from east to west when he was struck by an Isuzu Rodeo traveling in the bus lane.

After striking the victim, the driver, identified as Diogo Miller Facchini, 30, of Lorton, Va., continued to travel north on Coastal Highway before turning right on 55th Street, where witnesses followed his vehicle until he was apprehended by police. The preliminary investigation revealed Facchini was traveling at a speed exceeding the posted limit when he struck the victim.

Meanwhile, Facchini, who was not injured during the collision, was arrested and charged with homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated, leaving the scene of a fatal collision, driving under the influence and while impaired and numerous other traffic violations. In September in Circuit Court, Facchini pleaded guilty to negligent homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and failure to immediately stop a vehicle at the scene of an accident involving a fatality and a pre-sentence investigation was ordered.

Back in Circuit Court last Friday, Facchini was sentenced to five years in jail for the negligent homicide by motor vehicle count and was also placed on probation for five years and fined $5,000. Facchini was also suspended to five years in jail for the failure to immediately stop a vehicle at the scene of an accident involving a fatality, but that sentence was suspended.