As Jason Perez Jr. and Steven Sanchez greeted Debbie Pyatock on Wednesday, none of them showed the terror they all felt the night they first encountered one another in 2010.
On Wednesday, Sanchez and Perez split a $10,000 Law Tigers reward for their help in the conviction of Efrain Villegas, 27, who was driving drunk when he slammed into a motorcycle carrying Pyatock and her fiance, 59-year-old Jon Brand.
Brand died shortly after the accident. Pyatock nominated Sanchez and Perez for the award more than a year later.
On July 16, 2010, Sanchez and Perez were driving home when they saw Villegas, then 25, slam into Brand and Pyatock at the intersection of 70th Avenue and Broadway. Without hesitation, the two followed the car after it backed up and sped away from the accident scene.
“It was just instinct,” Sanchez said.
When Villegas reached a dead end, he got out and ran away from the two men.
Police arrested him a few hours later after finding his wallet in the pocket of a jacket he abandoned in the car, Sanchez said.
Villegas was arrested around 3 a.m., the same hour Brand died at a nearby hospital.
Tom Metier of the Metier Law Firm presented Sanchez and Perez, both 19 and from Denver, each with a $5,000 Law Tigers check at the Freedom Harley-Davidson dealership in Lakewood.
The Law Tigers is a national network of attorneys that help victims of motorcycle accidents.
“These two saw a terrible event, and they decided that they would live up to what was in their hearts, which was to chase this man down,” Metier said.
In April, Villegas pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol, according to state court records. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
“If it wasn’t for them, I think I would still have a lot of fear about where that guy is,” Pyatock said. “Now, I’m not worrying about him being on the road.”
Perez teased Sanchez, whom he calls Scuba, after the ceremony.
While Sanchez said he was eyeing a black motorcycle in the back of the dealership, neither he nor Perez said they planned to ride home on a new motorcycle.
Sanchez’s son, Bentley, is 3 weeks old. He and his fiancee are planning a June wedding.
