Man Sentenced To 7 Years In Fatal Hit-And-Run Case

SNOW HILL — A local man was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison with all but seven suspended for a fatal hit-and-run collision last summer.

Around 3 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2017, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to a reported hit-and-run collision involving a bicycle in the area of 2nd Street and Philadelphia Avenue. The bicyclist, later identified as Veronika Badurova, 21, of Slovakia, who was working on a J-1 seasonal visa in the resort, was riding southbound on Philadelphia Avenue when she was struck by an SUV also traveling southbound.

The driver of the SUV, identified as Brooks T. Bratten, now 39, of Snow Hill, failed to stop or remain at the scene. Badurova was transported to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in critical condition and two days later she succumbed to injuries sustained in the collision.

Bratten later turned himself in to authorities. The OCPD charged Bratten with multiple counts including two counts of failure to remain at the scene of a fatal traffic collision, two counts of failure to remain at the scene of a traffic collision causing bodily injury, failing to render aid following a traffic collision and negligent driving. In June, Bratten pleaded guilty to failure to stop vehicle at the scene of an accident involving death and a pre-sentence investigation was ordered.

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