Fmr. San Jose city council candidate sentenced to 6 months for fatal DUI pedestrian crash – CBS San Francisco

SAN JOSE (KPIX) – A former San Jose City Council candidate and President of the Women’s March Bay Area has been sentenced to six months in jail and two years probation for crashing into her SUV with a pedestrian and killing him on the shot.
âTo say we were disappointed is an understatement,â said Bridget Starkey.
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His father, Tim Starkey, was killed days before Christmas Day 2019 when Jennifer Higgins Bradanini crashed into the 66-year-old on Blossom Hill Road in Los Gatos.
Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police said Bradanini was under the influence of prescription drugs used for anxiety, depression and insomnia. She was on her way to a doctor’s appointment from San José when she crossed a bike path and found herself on the shoulder where Tim was standing near his truck. He was getting ready to install Christmas lights for a friend.
Bradanini has made a clear plea of ââmanslaughter at the wheel of a vehicle. But a judge agreed on Tuesday to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor of gross negligence, which comes with a lighter sentence.
âIt was a shock, a shock to all of us,â Starkey said. “What she took from us is immeasurable, and the loss of my father will be forever.”
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Timothy Lundell, a local lawyer and family friend, said he had known Tim Starkey for almost four decades. He was in the courtroom on Tuesday and heard Bradanini’s statement to the Starkey family.
âShe said she didn’t have an explanation for what had happened, that it wasn’t intentional,â Lundell said. âIt was a taken away life that has so much promise, love, tenderness, fun. All the things the family would want from a husband and father. Gone in an instant.
âTo see the woman who killed my father in person is very shocking,â Starkey said.
The family said they plan to explore other legal options in the future, but so far their focus has been on sentencing day.
Despite the heartache, Starkey said she respects the remorse Bradanini displayed in court today. She said that’s what her father, who taught her to live with integrity, would want her to do.
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âMy dad was just a lover of music and cooking for people,â Starkey said. âI think he would be very proud of my mother, myself and my brother, Joe. For standing up, defending him and defending his character before the judge, before the woman who killed him.