A 37-year-old Wichita man was sentenced Thursday to two years, seven months in prison for leaving the scene of a crash that killed a pedestrian in south Wichita in January.
Cody C. Cox pleaded guilty to the charge in September. Authorities have said 52-year-old James P. Dolton of Wichita was fatally struck by a Honda Acura RSX around 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 8 as he was crossing Seneca south of Pawnee after leaving a Taco Bell. Cox was driving the Honda but did not stop or offer any sort of help after hitting him. Police later traced the car to Cox and found it at his house with front-end damage and a broken windshield.
Dolton, a food industry worker who loved reading and trivia, died at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis hospital the next day from blunt force injuries, including skull and rib fractures, bleeding, and lacerated internal organs.
Prosecutors alleged Cox knew or should have known the crash resulted in someone’s death or serious injury but failed to immediately stop and help or or tell law enforcement. In a jail phone call after his arrest, Cox told his mother he “wasn’t trying to hurt nobody” and complained that he was in jail “with a bunch of killers,” a probable cause affidavit released in the case says.