Man sentenced to 30 years in dragging death case

A judge sentenced a Bridgeport man to 30 years in prison Friday for running down a 21-year-old man with a car. Dennis Berrios will also have to serve 5 years of probation upon his release. According

News 12 Staff

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Dec 10, 2016, 3:55 AM

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Updated 2,934 days ago

A judge sentenced a Bridgeport man to 30 years in prison Friday for running down a 21-year-old man with a car.

Dennis Berrios will also have to serve 5 years of probation upon his release.

According to prosecutors, Berrios ran down Tyron Tate in 2014, then dragged him with the car for almost 70 feet. Berrios fled the scene and lied to police about what happened.

At the sentencing hearing, Berrios apologized to Tate's family.

"Words can't express the regrets and sorrow that I feel," he said. "The event that took place that night was completely unintentional and was an accident."

The judge disagreed and said that the death was no accident. She also described his behavior as "psychopathic."

"You took a man's life, and you seem to have no understanding of what you've done," Judge Maria Kahn, of the Bridgeport Superior Court, told Berrios at the hearing.

Berrios claimed that he was defending himself from Tate, who he said threw rocks at his car with a friend.

The victim's family was pleased with the sentence.

"Justice was served," said Janet Lopez, Tate's mother. "I'm happy. My son -- I won't be able to talk to him, hug him, hold him -- but he got his justice."