Distracted driver gets 6 months, to serve 10 days annually on 13-year-old girl's birthday
SAN ANTONIO - A man was sentenced on Thursday in a manslaughter case more than five years after a young girl was killed along Loop 1604 by a distracted driver.
Judge Frank Castro gave Paul Soechting, 27, six months in jail, 10 years of probation and 200 hours of community service in the death of 13-year-old Emily Zaltsman back in 2017.
In a unique twist, Soechting will serve 90 days now and the additional days annually for the next nine years on her birthday - May 17.
Prosecutors say Soechting was not paying attention to the road near 1604 and I-10 and did not notice that traffic had come to a halt in front of him.
They say he was driving more than 60-miles per hour when he slammed his jeep into the back of a Lexus, killing Emily, just a few miles from her home. Her grandfather was also injured.
Parents Tamir and Karin Zaltsman found some comfort that Soechting, who is hearing impaired, did get at least some jail time rather than just probation.
