The owner of a Maryland pizza shop received a sentence of 20 years in prison Tuesday in connection with a drunken driving crash last year along Route 10 in Glen Burnie that killed an Army veteran.
Guarav “Sonny” Rawal, 38, of Glen Burnie, pleaded guilty in December to charges including negligent manslaughter, driving under the influence and failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving death.
“The defendant was intoxicated at the time of the crash, was using the app Snapchat on his phone while driving at an excessive speed, 110 mph, when he slammed into the back of the victim’s car causing him to lose control, overturn and crash into a nearby guardrail,” according to the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Rawal, owner of Champs Pizza, was found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.12, which is over the legal limit of 0.08. He had two previous drunken driving convictions and was supposed to have an ignition interlock device in his vehicle, but he did not.
The victim who was killed in the Feb. 8, 2021 crash was 37-year-old Anthony Jean-Louis, a U.S. Army veteran who lived in Pasadena. Jean-Louis was a retired Cryptologic Network Warfare Specialist in the Army Reserve and Army.
“The defendant’s reckless disregard for others is evident by his actions throughout this crime, from the level of intoxication, to the excessive speeding, to the use of his cellphone and then leaving the scene of a fatal crash,” said State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess.
“Mr. Jean-Louis was senselessly killed by an out -of-control driver, and his family has suffered from this unimaginable event.”
Rawal was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 10 years suspended.
According to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, Anne Arundel County police officers had to search the area around the crash to locate Rawal, who had left the scene on foot and “attempted to solicit multiple people with cash to take him home.”
When officers found Rawal, they saw he had blood on his clothing and small pieces of glass on his face and beard.
“He told the police that he had fallen and hit his head on the sidewalk where he was standing,” the state’s attorney’s office said. “DNA testing later confirmed the defendant was the operator of the vehicle.”
