VERNON

UConn student Lukasz Gilewski stood in a crowded courtoom Monday and spoke admiringly of the fellow student whose life he took when he was distracted while driving a university shuttle bus.

"I will do my best to live my life in a way that best honors him," he said of David Plamondon, 20.

A short time later, a judge spared Gilewski jail time and sentenced him to two years of probation.

Gilewski, 22, of Newington had earlier pleaded no contest to negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way to a pedestrian. The sentencing was in Superior Court in Rockville before Judge Elliot N. Solomon.

The full sentence is six months in jail, suspended, followed by the probation. There also are a series of conditions that include giving up his commercial driver's license which Gilewski already has done and speaking to new drivers about the importance of attentive driving. Negligent homicide with a motor vehicle is a misdemeanor.

Plamondon's family criticized the sentence as being too light. About 20 family members and friends watched the proceeding; each wore a pin with Plamondon's picture and the words, "In our hearts you will stay."

"Today, I grieve for my son knowing that justice was not served in court," Plamondon's mother, Linda Plamondon, said outside the courthouse after the sentencing. "I am disappointed with this plea agreement. This was an act of manslaughter."

About 8:10 p.m. on March 22, 2011, Gilewski was headed north on Hillside Road when he stopped at a stop sign, turned his signal on and started to turn left onto Alumni Drive, the police report states. As he started turning, he made eye contact with a southbound bus driver stopped at a stop sign. He waved, he told police.

"I then looked up Alumni Drive and saw a pedestrian right in front of my bus just to the right of the middle" Gilewski told investigators. "I then lost sight of the pedestrian; I heard a tumbling noise and realized I had run over the pedestrian."

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UConn Student Bus Driver Spared Jail Time In Death Of Fellow Student