I’m a sophomore at Stonington High School and I’m disgusted by how the courts have failed the public.

I read in The Day, “Stonington man ponders prison offer in hit-and-run death of bicyclist,” that the man who killed our beloved custodian Mr. Piver, is being offered a two-year prison sentence for “evading responsibility.” Is that what you call it when you hit a man with your car and leave him to die on the side of the road?

Mr. Piver was not just “a bicyclist” and our custodian, he was our friend. He was friends with everyone at Stonington High School. He brightened every day just by being there. He knew all our names, and he greeted us by name when we walked past him in the hallway. He didn’t learn our names because he had to; he did it because he was genuinely interested in making our days better. He was kind to everyone, but especially the kids who were struggling and needed someone to just say “hello.”

I was worried that I would graduate from high school before I saw justice for Mr. Piver, and now this is worse. A two-year prison deal is insulting. Our community and our school will never be the same and not a day goes by that we don’t feel the enormous void left by the absence of Mr. Piver. Take the two-year deal off the table and make sure justice is done!

Trent Trebilcock

Mystic