Hannah Henry’s family condemned the 10-year prison sentence handed to the drugged-up driver who killed the champion triathlete.
The Arizona State University standout, 26, was struck in a designated bike lane in south Phoenix around 11:30 a.m. On Feb. 8 while training for an upcoming competition. Eric Hodge swerved his van into the cycling path, dragged Henry beneath the vehicle, then fled the scene with pieces of her clothing stuck to the underside of his van, officials said. Police tracked him to his home, where damage to the van matched evidence from the crash.
Hodge had smoked fentanyl before getting behind the wheel and told police during his arrest that passing out randomly was a regular occurrence for him. “When he smokes fentanyl, he passes out randomly and wakes up in different places,” police wrote in arrest documents. He claimed he believed he had hit a fire hydrant, not a person, and described himself as a non-violent person who “tries to work every day.”
“I’m so heartbroken. I would trade my life for hers in a second if I could. That’s all I can say, but I was asleep. I didn’t see that I hit anybody. I would have stopped, I really would,” he told police.
The driver was initially charged with manslaughter, two counts of leaving an accident with death or injury, two counts of narcotic drug possession, and two counts of drug paraphernalia. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Prosecutors recommended the 10-year sentence as part of the plea deal, plus five years of probation.
Henry’s mother, Della Doore, delivered a blistering statement in court on Tuesday. “Hannah didn’t get a plea bargain,” she said, according to AZFamily. “When he got behind the wheel after taking fentanyl, he gave Hannah the death sentence. All she was doing was riding her bike on a Sunday morning. Thank you for hearing me.”
Doore spoke again before the sentencing, highlighting everything her daughter would now miss. “10 years for killing a young woman who’s just starting her life? She was only 26, just bought a condo,” she said. “She had goals. She had dreams, and I don’t get to see that. We don’t get to see her get married. We don’t get to see her have babies.”
Hodge refused to look at Henry’s parents during their victim impact statements at the hearing, keeping his head down even when her father played home videos of his daughter. “He had his head down the whole time, he didn’t see but he did hear Hannah’s laugh which is always in every room that we go too,” Doore said outside the courthouse Tuesday.
When given his own chance to speak, Hodge apologized directly to the family and looked them in the eyes, insisting he had not intended to kill Henry.
Henry had raced her first triathlon at age 9 and went on to become a two-time NCAA champion for the Sun Devils, winning back-to-back individual titles at the US Triathlon Collegiate National Championships in 2017 and 2018. The Canadian native also represented her country at the 2019 Pan American Games, according to the Hannah Henry Foundation.
Hodge was ordered to serve his prison sentence immediately following Tuesday’s hearing.