Daniel Young, known in this city as Chef D, was a key witness to a hit-and-run in October that left two people injured, one of them severely.
You’ve been hearing a lot about this hit-and-run because the driver, Brandon Mondragon, this week agreed to plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident in exchange for six months in Denver County Jail on work release, four years of probation and 300 hours of community service. Mondragon, 21, fled, didn’t report the accident and was arrested by police 10 days later. Whatever public sympathy may have existed toward him passed long before the 10 days did.
To say the plea deal has provoked consternation is an understatement. Count Chef D among its critics.
“From a human perspective, that’s just a cold ending,” he says. “Why do we go through all this, then? There was nothing gained. Nothing learned. No resolution.”
Chef D is personal chef to Nuggets Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Ty Lawson. He enjoys a certain amount of celebrity but is so soft-spoken you’d never know it. He was on his way home from Boulder and was at a red light at 20th Street near Coors Field when the accident happened.
“I saw the moment of impact,” he says. He also saw the silver vehicle that struck Timothy Albo and Heather Kornman speed away. Chef D rushed to the couple’s aid. All these months later, he’s still shaken by what he saw.
“It’s not that I think Mondragon should go to jail for 10 years; it was that he should have accepted responsibility,” the chef says. “What did he learn here? All I see is that if you leave the scene of an accident, ditch the car, get an attorney, you get off easy.”
I told Kenneth Boyd, Denver assistant district attorney and lead prosecutor on the Mondragon case, about my conversation with Chef D. I learned a few things. First, prosecutors didn’t have the evidence to make a case for vehicular assault, which carries greater punishment. They couldn’t prove Mondragon, who had been at a club, had been drinking or speeding or that he ran a light or was weaving all over the road. Various witnesses saw bits of what happened, and they disagreed on where Albo and Kornman were and where the car was. Some witness statements could not be reconciled with the accident reconstruction. More significantly, the only person who could place Mondragon behind the wheel was his passenger — the alternate suspect.
That left Boyd with two charges of “leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury,” a low-level felony carrying a one- to three-year prison sentence.
The most time Mondragon could have received was six years, Boyd says. Given his lack of a criminal history, prosecutors thought it unlikely a judge would sentence him to any significant prison time.
And so, with the families’ help, a plea deal was crafted. Mondragon pleaded guilty to the felony with which he was charged, not a reduced charge, which is common with plea deals, Boyd says. He agreed to double the typical probationary time and triple the typical community service time. In addition, the Albo family and Kornman will be choosing how Mondragon will perform his community service.
“The family was never happy with the plea agreement, and they were never happy with the possible penalties,” Boyd says, “but over time, they understood the limitations given the law.” (The Albos understood it so well that they’re now seeking to change the law.)
Chef D has a great idea for how a few of Mondragon’s 300 hours community service could be spent. “The only person who can give us resolution is Mondragon,” he says. “I think he should do a public-service announcement.”
It might go something like this: My name is Brandon. I committed a hit-and-run. I hurt two people, and they may never be the same. If you hit someone, no matter how scared you are, stop. It’s the right thing to do.
Tina Griego writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-2699 or tgriego@denverpost.com.
