Travis Dickson sentenced up to 13½ years in prison for DWI crash on Long Island Expressway that killed boy, 9

A Brooklyn man who admitted to being drunk, high and speeding at 119 mph on the Long Island Expressway when he caused a crash that killed a 9-year-old boy in 2022 was sentenced to 4½ to 13½ years in prison Friday. 

Travis Dickson, 32, pleaded guilty in February to multiple charges, including manslaughter. He was driving with a revoked license on Aug. 22, 2022, while impaired by alcohol and marijuana, according to authorities.

During the Farmingville crash, he failed to hit the brakes on his 2018 BMW 540i and smashed into the back of a 2019 Toyota Corolla where Angel Salas, 9, was riding in a booster seat in the back seat, according to authorities. The crash happened around 1:49 a.m.

The Corolla was crushed from the impact. Salas and his father, who was driving the Corolla, were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital where Angel was declared brain dead two days later. He was then removed from life support and his liver and kidneys were donated to three people.

Angel's mom, Juliana Salas, remembered her son as a loving, cheerful, and kind friend on Saturday. "I'm sorry we miss out on what a great man Angel would've turned out to be," she said in a text message, adding that "God will handle justice."

Prosecutors said Dickson had a blood alcohol content of 0.14, above the legal limit of 0.08, three hours after the crash. He was found carrying marijuana and had admitted to smoking pot before the crash.

Dickson had pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault, misdemeanor assault, driving while impaired by alcohol and drugs, reckless driving and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

“As this case clearly illustrates, drunk and drug-impaired drivers are a danger to our communities and often times cause collisions which turn fatal for innocent victims,” District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a release.

 "I hope that this prison sentence brings some small degree of solace to the victim’s family who are undoubtedly still grieving his loss," he added.

Dickson's lawyer, Douglas Rankin, could not immediately be reached. Dickson, a father himself, was devastated by Angel's death in 2022, according to another lawyer who represented him and spoke to Newsday later that year.