Ali Montoya sentenced to 4.5 years after crash that killed taxi driver, passenger

Ali Montoya has been sentenced to four-and-a-halfyears in prison after a drunk-driving crash took the lives of a taxi driver and passenger in 2015.

Montoya, who was 20 at the time, will receive pre-trial custody credit of 45 days and the sentence includes a five-year ban on driving.

• 'We said our goodbyes, we turned off the machines': Family of drunk driving victim describe grief
• Ali Montoya admits guilt after crash that killed Calgary taxi driver, passenger
• Ali Montoya granted bail after crash that killed taxi driver, passenger

Taxi driverAmritpalKharbanda, 46, and his passenger,JillianLavallee, 25, died in May 2015 afterMontoya, who was drunk,ran a red light and slammed his CadillacEscaladeinto the cab.

He was driving 123 km/h two-and-a-halfseconds before runninga red lightonMacleodTrail and12thAvenue S.E.The red light camera clocked him at 98 km/h right before he hita small car, which then struck the taxi.Montoya'sblood alcohol level at the time was between 0.1 and 0.13.

• Families of Jillian Lavallee, Amritpal Kharbanda mourn following crash
• Family of Jillian Lavallee, killed in taxi crash, raising money to help family of driver who also died

Montoyapleadedguilty earlier this yearto two counts of criminal negligence causing death and onecount of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

He was dressed in a black jacket and white shirt at the sentencing Friday. He sat with his headdown, at times crying and appearing to remove his glasses to wipe awaytears on his shirt collars.

Kharbanda's wife, Harpreet, says laws should be in place to discourage drinking and driving.

"We really need to have good sentencing so that these things should not happen again and again," she said.

"We have to get some strict rules so that this should not happen and people should think, if there is more penalty or punishment for them, whether they want to go behind the wheel while they are drinking."

Lavallee's parents, Brenda and Dan, are also disappointed in the sentence, but believe changes need to be citizen driven.

"It doesn't feel like it's an adequate sentence," Dan said.

"But on the other hand, we have come to the view that there has to be more done at the front end to prevent these things. I actually don't think whether it was four or fourteen [years] it makes much difference. It doesn't change our lives at all, it doesn't change our loss. Having laws put in place that actually physically prevent people from driving if you are drinking, that is what I think needs to happen."

Brenda said the timing of the sentence is difficult.

"We are glad that it is over," she said.

"We are going into the Christmas season and Jillian loved Christmas."

• MORE ALBERTA NEWS | SPCA investigates hairless-cat scam as another buyer comes forward
• MORE ALBERTA NEWS |Sentencing hearing for Manyshots brothers postponed to Dec. 8