Her favorite color was blue.
She enjoyed telling jokes to make people laugh.
She was a devoted sister.
She loved animals but especially her dog, Teddy.
Roxanne Bonnoni was an 11-year-old girl whose life was cut short by a drunk driver.
“God did not decide it was Roxanne’s time to die,” her father, Anthony Csizmadia, told a judge Wednesday.
It was not an accident, either, he said.
“This was a selfish, careless and completely preventable choice.”
The man responsible for Roxanne’s death, Jeffrey Glowatski, 65, of Harrison, pleaded guilty in December to driving under the influence and careless driving.
On Wednesday, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski sentenced him to serve three to six months in the county jail, as well as pay $1,450 in fines.
Although he asked to be permitted to self-report, the judge ordered Glowatski to be immediately taken into custody.
According to investigators, Roxanne, who was hearing impaired, was crossing North Canal Street near Kuntz Street in Natrona when Glowatski struck her in his Jeep Patriot around 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2024.
According to the criminal complaint, Glowatski’s blood alcohol level, recorded more than four hours after the crash, was listed at 0.15%, nearly twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania.
Investigators said Glowatski spent nearly five hours that afternoon at two local bars — the American Legion and then Boots Bar, both in Brackenridge.
Over the course of that time, Glowatski drank 12 beers, police said.
Still, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office did not charge Glowatski with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence.
Instead, charges filed against him included three counts of driving under the influence and related traffic violations.
Glowatski’s lawyer, David Shrager, told TribLive last year that charges were determined after an exhaustive investigation. Investigators could not prove anything would have happened differently had Glowatski been sober, Shrager said.
The district attorney’s office said Glowatski was “appropriately charged.”
An ‘overwhelming’ silence
During Wednesday’s hearing, Roxanne’s parents described to the court how the death has impacted them.
Amber Bonnoni told the court that her daughter’s loss has been unbearable, and she struggles to work.
“Some days, just getting out of bed feels impossible,” Bonnoni said. “The silence in our home is overwhelming. I will never hear the sound of her laughter again or the sound of the girls playing together.”
Killed two months shy of her 12th birthday, Roxanne died at a “at a time when her life was full of hope,” her mom said.
Roxanne had previously attended DePaul School for the Hearing Impaired and was about to transition to the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.
“She was excited to learn, meet new friends and continue growing,” her mom said. “That future was stolen from her.”
Roxanne loved Halloween, and she had already picked out her costume for that year, her parents said. She wanted to be a police officer.
“That costume now sits as a constant reminder of the life she lost too soon, the joys she will never experience and the milestones she will never reach,” her mom said.
Csizmadia told the court that Roxanne was the girl version of himself — always joking, playing pranks and making people laugh.
“She had a heart that drew people in and a spirit that lifted those around her and a soul that was pure and innocent,” he said.
Roxanne especially adored her younger sister, Abby, her dad said.
She also loved playing soccer and cheer.
’This was a choice’
Csizmadia asked the court to impose real consequences on the driver.
“The dead cannot cry out for justice, and so it is the duty of the living to do so,” he said.
Bonnoni, too, asked the court to remember that her daughter was “a real child — curious, loving, joyful, kind and full of life — and that her life mattered.
“Her laughter mattered. Her giggles mattered. Her dreams mattered.”
Glowatski, who had tears in his eyes, apologized to Roxanne’s family and told them he would live with what he’d done for the rest of his life.
As he imposed sentence, Borkowski acknowledged that the defendant had no prior criminal history and had been a longstanding member of the community.
But he noted, too, that Glowatski did have a history of traffic violations, including speeding and careless driving.
“Her father put it best. This was not an accident,” Borkowski said. “This was a choice. The sentence has to reflect the death and the impact on the remaining family members.”