Judge James Donato faced a fraught decision Monday when sentencing the driver who struck and killed champion cyclist Ethan Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio on April 4, 2023. While Boyes’ parents lobbied the judge to keep their son’s killer out of prison, the cyclist’s longtime partner wanted the perpetrator, who was intoxicated during the crash, to serve time behind bars.
In the end, Donato sentenced the 82-year-old driver, Arnold Low, to one year of home confinement, one year of supervised release and a $25,000 fine. Low will not serve any time in prison.
“He’s getting off with nothing,” Boyes’ partner, Kate Wilson, said after the hearing.
Throughout Monday’s hearing, Donato criticized the decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to offer Low a plea deal for misdemeanor manslaughter, a lesser charge than the felony manslaughter charge it originally filed.
“I think it sends a terrible, terrible message to people who might be tempted to drive drunk,” Donato said, noting the decades-long national campaign to discourage drunk driving. “It just pulls the rug out from all those efforts.”
Low pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum sentence of one year of incarceration, though the prosecutor recommended 24 months of probation and no prison time. Low also pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Choking back tears, Low addressed the courtroom ahead of the judge’s ruling, telling Boyes’ relatives, many of whom were in attendance, that he thought about them every day.
“I am haunted by this,” Low said. “My world will never be the same, because your world will never be the same.”
Low agreed never to drive again, according to his defense attorney.
Boyes’ death made national news as San Francisco’s cycling community mourned the loss of the former USA Cycling Masters champion, who was struck down on Arguello Boulevard in the Presidio doing what he loved: riding his bike. Amid the grief, the incident quickly became a rallying cry for cycling advocates in their battle to improve street safety in the city.
But when the case moved into the courtroom, a thorny question emerged: What punishment, if any, was right for the elderly driver who struck and killed the 44-year-old cyclist?
Boyes’ loved ones split on what they thought he would have wanted; some said he would have advocated for leniency, and others argued that he would want to see a harsh punishment to discourage driving after drinking.
Further complicating the case, the prosecution’s expert concluded that Low’s blood alcohol content at the time of the crash may have been below the state’s legal limit.
What would Ethan want?
In November 2023, federal prosecutors accused Low of killing Boyes while driving under the influence of alcohol and charged him with felony involuntary manslaughter. (The case played out in federal court since the Presidio is managed by the federal government.)
But four months later, prosecutors downgraded the felony charge to a misdemeanor, which comes with a much lower maximum prison sentence—one year instead of six. That sparked an outcry.
Boyes’ partner, Wilson, wrote a letter to the judge.
“Ethan would have wanted people to be held accountable for their actions and to get the consequences they deserve,” Wilson wrote. “I think Ethan would have wanted the driver, no matter his age, to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in order to protect other cyclists from harm.”
“All [Ethan’s] friends think [Low] should get the maximum,” Wilson told The Standard ahead of the hearing.
Boyes’ family, meanwhile, went the opposite direction, pushing the judge to consider a lenient sentence.
“It is our sincerest belief that Ethan would in no way want to see Mr. Low incarcerated, nor would he have wanted our family or Mr. Low and his family to endure the lengthy and painful process that a criminal trial will surely entail,” Boyes’ mother, father and brothers wrote in a joint letter.
“We all grieve differently. That’s all I can tell you,” Penny Boyes told The Standard, when asked about the schism between her son’s partner and his family.
Wilson, meanwhile, said Boyes was hit by vehicles multiple times when he worked as a bike messenger and didn’t want others to go through the same experience. That’s why she thinks Boyes would have wanted Low sentenced to prison. Boyes “wouldn’t want people to think that they can drink and drive and get away with it,” she said.
Wilson said she felt she had less say in the direction of the case than Boyes’ biological family, since the pair were not married, though they dated for more than six years.
During the sentencing, Donato, the judge, acknowledged the wishes of both Wilson and Penny Boyes, each of whom read statements. Donato made it clear, however, that his decision was driven by a larger sense of justice for the public, not just the desires of Boyes’ loved ones.
“We are not just here to serve the family of the victim or the defendant,” Donato said.
While federal judges have no obligation to follow the wishes of a victim’s relatives when it comes time for sentencing, they typically take the family’s input seriously, according to Jeremy Fogel, who served as a federal judge in San Francisco for more than a decade and now leads the UC Berkeley Judicial Institute. When victims disagree on what sentence they want to see, it makes an already complex matter even trickier.
“I would say categorically that sentencing is the hardest thing that high-level judges do,” Fogel said. “You have to make your own judgment, your own assessment.”
A funeral before a death
On April 4, 2023, Low drove his 2008 Honda Fit to a friend’s home in San Francisco’s Richmond neighborhood, according to court documents. That friend drove him to a funeral reception at Original Joe’s, a restaurant in Daly City. Surveillance footage shows Low drinking at least two glasses of wine between about 1 p.m. and 2:40 p.m., although the camera was obscured for a portion of the event.
According to the prosecution, upon leaving the event, Low did not appear visibly “sloppy” in surveillance footage. The San Francisco native then rode as a passenger back to the Richmond, where he picked up his car and began driving. Just before he entered the Presidio, a camera captured Low stopping at a stop sign and traveling at a normal speed.
But just a quarter mile later, as Low drove north up the hill on Arguello Boulevard, his car struck the right-hand curb on a curve, according to court documents. Low overcorrected, veering across the lane of oncoming traffic and into the southbound bicycle lane, where Boyes was cycling south. Prosecutors’ crash reconstruction expert later concluded that Low likely did not brake after hitting the curb, possibly indicating pedal confusion, in which drivers mistake the gas for the brake.
When law enforcement arrived at the scene around 3:55 p.m., they found Boyes lodged halfway inside the smashed windshield of Low’s Honda Fit. He was pronounced dead at the hospital less than an hour later.
Low was also taken in for medical treatment. A law enforcement officer visited him in the hospital and asked him to take a blood alcohol test.
“I’m screwed anyways, right, so I should just take the test?” Low said, according to court documents. “You know I have nothing to hide. I know I’ve been drinking.”
At 6:35 p.m., about two hours and 40 minutes after the crash, Low’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.04%, half California’s legal limit of 0.08%. Later, prosecutors hired a forensic toxicologist who estimated that at the time of the crash, Low’s blood alcohol content was likely between 0.068% and 0.081%.
“Though not definitively above the legal limit, there is no dispute that the amount of alcohol in [Low’s] system rendered him incapable of operating his vehicle in a safe manner,” prosecutor George Hageman wrote in his sentencing memo. “Put simply, Low’s decision to drive under the influence of alcohol—even this relatively smaller amount—resulted in Ethan Boyes’s death.”
Low’s defense attorney cast that same set of facts in a different light.
“Despite the fact that he was most probably below the legal limit, Mr. Low, who felt terrible remorse for the tragedy, chose to accept responsibility in accordance with the family’s wishes,” he wrote in a court filing. “It was the least he could do for them.”
Prior to pleading guilty, Low paid $9,000 in restitution to Boyes’ parents to help cover medical and funeral bills, and $15,000 to Wilson for lost future income, according to his attorney.
Low, for his part, expressed deep regret for hitting Boyes with his car.
“I will never know the depth of pain I have caused [Boyes’] loved ones and greater community,” Low told probation officials, according to court filings. A “devastating feeling of remorse and sadness has lingered over my life since the traffic accident and will stay with me for the remainder of my life.”
But Wilson worried that prosecutors’ choice to allow Low to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges could send the wrong message to the public.
“Things in the future aren’t going to change for drunk driving if every case, especially a national case, doesn’t get looked at properly,” she said.