A hit-and-run driver was sentenced Thursday to just 90 days behind bars for mowing down and killing an entering freshman at NYU in the Hamptons, leaving the victim’s family livid at the light sentence.
Daniel Campbell, 20, fatally struck Devesh ‘Devu’ Samtani with his Honda Pilot on Old Stone Highway in Amagansett on August 10, 2021 with such force that he was thrown six-feet into the air. At the time, Campbell had nine other people in his car.
On the night Samtani was killed, he had been walking along Old Stone Highway with his cousin Kabir Kurani, 18, and their friends trying to get service to get an Uber back home.
But he was hit by Campbell, driving a Honda Pilot packed with nine passengers, so hard he flew 6ft into the air, with his shoes flying off his feet.
Campbell then drove off and left the NYU economics student to die on the highway surrounded by his friends.
Campbell pleaded guilty Aug. 5 to leaving the scene of the accident that killed Devesh Samtani, an 18-year-old from Hong Kong who was walking from a party in Amagansett in August 2021.
The victim was killed shortly before he planned to enroll at New York University.
“He is going to come back and his life will be fine in a few months but for us our family is gone for life,” Samtani’s devastated mother, Mala Samtani, said in court after she asked Campbell why her son was left to die. “He came here to study, not for you to take his life away.”
Before being led outside of the courtroom, Cambell said tearfully to Samtani’s family, “I panicked and wish I had stayed with your son. Your son’s life will be with me forever.”
Despite his tears, the family remained unmoved by his words.
“He still did not admit about his speeding. I don’t believe he was driving at 25 miles an hour,” said the victim’s dad, Kishore Samtani.
Justice Richard Ambro called 90 days in the slammer a fair and reasonable sentence. Ambro insisted there was no evidence that Cambell was speeding, drunk, or high at the time of the accident.
Judge Ambro claimed he was unaware of Campbell’s three prior car accidents until he was informed by the DA’s office and Samtani’s family lawyer.
“On September 9 I became aware of three accidents and a speeding ticket. I could no longer honor the no jail time commitment,” Ambro said. “As part of his sentence, Campbell’s license will be revoked and he will be fined $2,000.”
“Ninety days is temporary. What we have isn’t going to be temporary,” Devesh’s brother Viren said.
Kishore Samtani added, “At least the 90 days will help him reconcile and think that what he did was wrong.”
White privilege at its finest!!