Retired D.C. police inspector Joseph O'Brien, 76, was struck and killed by a drunk hit-and-run driver in 2004. On Wednesday, that driver was finally sentenced to jail time.
After an international manhunt, Wilfred Olhlo was sentenced in Montgomery County Circuit Court to 3 years and 60 days, the maximum penalty for killing someone while driving impaired.
The crash occurred Dec. 17, 2004 on Montrose Road near Rockville Pike. O'Brien, a father and grandfather with an impressive career, was struck by Olhlo's car and then died five days later.
Off. John Powell arrested Olhlo, who admitted to having been drunk and pleaded guilty in 2006. But before he could be sentenced, he fled to his native Kenya.
"I figured that once he fled the country and had gone wherever, that we probably wouldn't catch him," Powell said.
Olhlo hid in Kenya for 10 years and was one of the 10 most-wanted men in the country. He was finally arrested by local police, together with INTERPOL.
O'Brien's daughter said seeing Olhlo sentenced provided some relief to the family's longstanding heartache.
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"It's wonderful," Debbie Eckstein said. "It's not enough, but you can only do what the laws allow."
"I feel like we did right by him, and that makes us happy because he always did right by us," O'Brien's daughter added.
Olhlo will return to court in about a month and could face an additional sentence of as much as five years for leading police on an international chase.
