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Just two weeks before he was set to begin college at New York University last year, 18-year-old Devesh Samtani died when a hit-and-run driver struck him from behind in the wealthy East Hampton enclave on Long Island.
His killer, Daniel Campbell, has pleaded guilty. But he won’t serve any jail time.
They were both in the area for the same party – which was so packed that there wasn’t enough room inside. So dozens of people were walking down the street, trying to get cellphone service, according to Samtani’s family. The area has poor reception.
“Internally, I am broken,” said Mala Samtani, the victim’s mother.
Devesh Samtani was excited to attend New York University last year. A hit-and-run driver struck and killed him just two weeks before his first semester started.
(Samtani family)
Campbell, speeding down a road crowded with pedestrians and driving an SUV packed with 10 people, plowed into Samtani, panicked and fled the scene, according to investigators.
Two young women got out of the car, took a picture of his license plate and later showed it to police, the family says.
“It didn’t matter to him,” Mala Samtani said of Campbell. “If those two friends who got out of the car, who didn’t want to be a part of it, if they didn’t give the cops the license plate number, we would have never known who did this.”
Police arrested Campbell, now 20, later that night on a felony hit-and-run charge. He was not accused of driving under the influence and had no prior record.
As part of the plea deal and in lieu of a six-month jail sentence, he is expected to face five years of probation and community service at his formal sentencing next month – a light sentence the family views as unfair.
“We don’t think it’s right,” said Kishore Samtani, the teen’s father. “This kid ran, he did not stop, he was overloaded with kids in the car…It’s not fair that somebody just runs away and then gets community service.”
Prosecutors blamed the court for the deal.
“Our recommendation to the court was one to three years,” a spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital. “The court has the independent authority to sentence as it sees appropriate for a top count plea.”
She declined to comment further.
“On Aug. 5, Daniel acknowledged guilt; he acknowledged responsibility,” his lawyer, Edward Burke Jr., told Fox News Digital. “He is very much looking forward to doing something that he has wanted to do from day one — and that is to apologize to the family, to look at them and speak to them. I always told him there’s a time and place for that to happen. That time is Sept. 22, and that place is before Judge [Richard] Ambro.”
Following their son’s death, Samtani’s parents endowed a scholarship at NYU and established a charitable foundation in his name.
Devesh Samtani would have begun his freshman year at New York University in September 2021. NYU buildings on MacDougal Street at 37 Washington Square West in New York City. In the distance, the Empire State Building appears above buildings on West 8th Street.
(iStock)
“We needed, in his honor, we needed to give back,” Mala Samtani said. “After what happened, at least let some other children achieve their dreams and their goals.”
Samtani was a straight-A student who excelled in math and economics, so the scholarship is for students of those subjects with financial needs. The foundation, based in the family’s hometown of Hong Kong, provides math extra help to needy children.
“He was a perfect child, any mother would have wanted, top student in school, he did a lot of charity work, he did fundraising, used to play piano, basketball and soccer,” said Mala Samtani. “It’s like I’m lost. He used to always be by my side.”
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She said she hopes one day to grow the program enough to start a school named after her son.
“At the age 18, he was very giving, he was a giver to friends, family, people that he didn’t know,” she said. “So we just decided we have to do the same – we have to carry on his legacy.”
Campbell is due back in court on Sept. 22 for formal sentencing.
