Man who killed a York County bicyclist in 2018 hit-and-run sentenced to 4 years

A New Kent County man was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday in the hit-and-run death of a York County bicyclist nearly three years ago.

Alexander M. Crosby, 28, got three years for involuntary manslaughter and one year for failing to stop at the October 2018 accident that left 50-year-old cyclist Brian Leonard Utne dead.

“You showed absolute disregard for the man who was on the roadway,” said York-Poquoson Circuit Court Judge Richard Rizk, saying that Crosby drove recklessly — and then drove off rather than try to get Utne help.

Crosby will get credit for the 2.5 years he’s already spent in custody on the charges.

The punishment came nearly two years after Crosby pleaded guilty — with the coronavirus causing much of the delay — and after riveting testimony by several of Utne’s relatives Tuesday.

Utne, an engineer at Newport News Shipbuilding, had finished a group ride after work on Oct. 25, 2018, a Thursday.

As he was riding home just before 7 p.m., he was struck crossways by a Ford pickup at Lakeside Drive, at the intersection with Yorkville Road. The bike was split in two, and several passers-by called 911.

Following a series of tips to York-Poquson Sheriff’s Office, Crosby — who was working for a landscaping company and carrying a trailer in a work convoy when he struck Utne — was arrested nearly two weeks later.

One of his co-workers, Robert Lee Strickland Jr., of Poquoson, was charged with concealing evidence and various other charges. Strickland, 63, was convicted April 21, and will be sentenced in July.

Utne’s wife, Susan Utne, testified that she got a call from Riverside Regional Medical Center about 7 that night — and they told her to come as soon as possible, and bring her kids.

As soon as she, her son and sister got there, she said, they were put in a small room, and hospital staff came in. By the long looks on everyone’s faces, she said, “we knew that Brian was already gone.”

She said she asked to see Utne even after doctors gave them the bad news, and they were allowed to see him. “I thought of how much he suffered, what his last thoughts were,” she said.

Susan Utne thinks of how she and her husband missed out on “being a couple again” after the kids moved out, when she envisioned them getting closer. “We love him and miss him every day,” she said.

The couple’s daughter, Elise Utne, now 22, testified that her father always cheered her academic and athletic achievements. Anytime she accomplishes something, she said, she thinks of how proud he would have been.

Before he died, Elsie testified, the family had “balance” — “two parents, two kids, two men, and two women.” But now, she said, something seems off. “It took a chunk out of the (family) structure,” she said. “The dynamic is not the same.”

Her brother, Calvin Utne, now 20, testified that the fateful day seemed liked any other, with their father coming home from work and getting ready to go on a bike ride like he did several times a week.

“I didn’t know that that would be the last conversation I would have with him,” Calvin said. “He was just stripped away from us.”

He said that he would talk with his father before he left for his daily ride, and again when he got home. His father, he added, was always the first one he went to if he needed help.

“I really miss all of those talks that I would have had with him,” Calvin said. “I don’t have him to go to ... He understood me. He knew who I was. He always knew what to say in a way that no one else ever could.”

When the family gets together now, he said, “I miss all of those snarky remarks me and him would have made.”

Susan said Brian missed out on seeing Elsie graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and lots of other past and future milestones. “I think of how proud he would have been of her, and of the young man Calvin has become,” she said.

Utne’s twin brother, Bruce A. Utne, 52, said he and his brother spent so much time with each other growing up that “it’s hard to think of a childhood memory that my brother wasn’t involved in.”

Their father recently died, he said, and lots of items “had to be sorted out” at the house. “I spent a lot of time going through the things by myself, wishing that my brother was here to share the memory, share the laughs,” he testified.

Utne was on several local riding clubs and a member of the Historic Triangle Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Crosby took the witness stand, apologizing to Utne’s family for what happened. “All I want to say is sorry,” he said. “I say that with all of my heart. I did not mean to do that that day.”

No matter what sentence he gets, he said, “I just want to ask for your forgiveness.”

As for why he drove off from the scene, he explained, he wasn’t thinking straight. “I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was scared ... It seemed like the easiest thing to do to get away from the problem.”

Crosby’s mother, Sonya Arthur, testified that her son “has taken complete ownership for what happened” that night. “I can’t imagine their loss,” she said of the Utne family. “Our family mourns for their loss every day.”

A friend of Crosby’s, Timothy Austin, 34, who ran a martial arts school with Crosby and another man, said he often speaks with his friend in phone calls to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. Crosby has lots of regrets, Austin said, and often speaks of the nephew he doesn’t get to see.

Surrounded by the right people, Austin said, Crosby will overcome lots of life obstacles. “Watch this kid grow,” Austin said. “He will be very respectable someday.”

York-Poquoson Commonwealth’s Attorney Ben Hahn said he “feels this crushing sadness” in the case because it was so tragic all the way around.

Retribution, Hahn said, is a legitimate societal response to criminal conduct, “and he must be punished for what he did.” The punishment would be far less, he said, had Crosby remained at the scene and tried to get help for the bicyclist.

At the same time, Hahn said that as part of the plea agreement in 2019, the prosecutor promised that if Crosby pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators, he would ask the judge to credit that.

Hahn said Crosby “held up his end of the bargain” by pleading guilty, providing a “full and truthful statement,” and for testifying against Strickland at his trial last month. So Hahn said he was holding up his end of the bargain Tuesday by asking Rizk to credit Crosby for that cooperation.

Crosby’s lawyer, Paul Hubert, said that when his client first went to jail, he “was putting on airs, and acting life a tough guy.” But today, he said, “he’s a very different individual.” Hubert asked for a sentence in the discretionary state sentencing guidelines.

Though Crosby faced up to 20 years behind bars — 10 years for each of the two convictions — the discretionary guidelines called for much less time: Just over a year at the low end, to 4 years and eight months at the high end.

The 4-year sentence handed down by Rizk fell near the upper end of those guidelines: It included 10 years with seven suspended on the manslaughter count, and 10 years with nine suspended on the leaving the scene charge. (A reckless driving charge was also dropped as part of the plea bargain).

“I know you didn’t set out to kill someone, but when you’re driving in that reckless a manner, the end result shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Rizk told Crosby. Utne “didn’t deserve to be left out on the road” to die, the judge said.

Rizk said he thought about exceeding the guidelines in the case, though he was also giving Crosby credit for his cooperation.

As she and other family members left the courthouse after the hearing, Susan Utne said she had hoped the sentence would be longer than four years, but she declined further comment.

Peter Dujardin, 757-892-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com