Driver sentenced in fatal jogger hit-run

For nearly two years, Barbara Malloy said Monday, she has tried to prevent other families from suffering the pain she felt when her daughter Amanda was killed while jogging on New York Avenue in Huntington.

Barbara Malloy said she speaks to schoolchildren about the dangers of driving while drunk or on drugs. Now, she said, she can tell students that Shea Rosen, 20, of Plainview, is going to prison for driving his sport utility vehicle into Amanda Malloy and her jogging partner while Rosen was under the influence of drugs.

"If I get one person to not do it, it's worth it," Barbara Malloy said.

In an emotional hearing Monday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, Rosen was sentenced by County Court Judge Martin Efman to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison.

Rosen, formerly of Brookville, had pleaded guilty in May to second-degree vehicular manslaughter, first-degree vehicular assault and misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs.

Amanda Malloy, 29, of Huntington, a fourth-grade teacher at John F. Kennedy Intermediate School in Deer Park, died at Huntington Hospital after being struck from behind by Rosen on Nov. 6, 2008. Malloy also had been a popular instructor at U.S. Karate Academy in Kings Park. Her friend, Vincent Saunders, now 34, of Huntington, suffered serious injuries, police and prosecutors said.

Before Rosen was sentenced, Malloy sniffed back tears as she read letters from some of her daughter's pupils. The students, she said, "won't get to have that funny, inspiring teacher who rode her bicycle down the hallway."

"Amanda was so kind and so sweet that she would probably have forgiven Shea," said Malloy, of Huntington. "I could never reconcile in my brain why I could not."

Saunders was not in court Monday.

At his guilty plea, Rosen admitted being impaired by Xanax when the crash occurred. Police said Rosen also had smoked marijuana before the collision.

Efman said driving while on drugs was "the equivalent of getting into a car with a blindfold on."

Rosen dabbed his eyes with a tissue Monday before apologizing to Malloy's family.

"I can never ask for forgiveness from any of you," Rosen said before he was sentenced. "I can only ask for forgiveness from God."Rosen's attorney, Michael Soshnick of Mineola, said Rosen has completed a drug rehabilitation program. He said Rosen volunteered with a soup kitchen and blood bank after being freed on $450,000 bail in January 2009.