May 6, 2021- 9:32 p.m.
A California man was fatally struck by an alleged drunk driver — just after leaving an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, local reports said Wednesday.
Ray Galindo, a proud member of the program for the last 15 years, was killed on April 23 in Modesta when 22-year-old Braxton Howze allegedly ran into him, KOVR reported.
Galindo, 58, had been speaking to an AA newcomer outside the Living Sober Fellowship and sitting on the tailgate of his parked pickup.
That’s when police say Howze, who was allegedly wasted, swerved off the road and hit him.
“It’s like my heart sank in my chest,” one of Galindo’s AA group leaders, who was named as Mark G., told the TV-station.
“Ray was a standup guy, he was a very helpful person, he always wanted to lend a hand.”
He leaves behind three sons, two who are adults and a 9-year-old, according to the Modesto Bee.
“He was such a good dad,” Dee Dee Leslie, the child’s mom, told the newspaper about Galindo.
“He wanted (his son) to have a good education and all the stuff he couldn’t have.”
Howze, who was allegedly driving on a suspended license from a previous DUI, faces charges including hit and run, DUI, and gross vehicular manslaughter.
He appeared bleary-eyed, bloody and bruised in a mugshot released by the Modesto Police Department.
Howze was being held on a $1,000,000 bail. He’s due back in court May 11.
