CHARLOTTE — A suspected drunk driver hit and killed 23-year-old Ryan Zadrozny at about 2 a.m. Sunday in Uptown then drove off, said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Ryan Zadrozny’s friends told his father, Stanley Zadrozny, that the driver was going so fast, that the victim didn’t see it coming so he had no time to jump out of the way.
“He was a better version of me, and I’m going to, for the rest of my life, try to measure up to what he had become,” his father said.
Zadrozny was kind and gentle, his dad said.
“You watch the movies and it’s the dreaded phone call at 6 o’clock in the morning from a detective who has to tell you that your son is dead,” he said.
Zadrozny was in Charlotte from New Jersey visiting friends.
They watched sports at Uptown bars Saturday night.
“It wasn’t like they were at a barfight, or they were causing problems, or drunk or running around crazy,” Stanley Zadrozny said.
Ryan Zadrozny and his friends were in a crosswalk near Morehead and Mint streets when 40-year-old Mache Darby hit him at a high rate of speed, CMPD said.
Darby kept going, police said.
“(Ryan) was a responsible, gentle, kind young man,” Zadrozny’s father said. “It’s just senseless to hear that this guy was prosecuted once and let back out just to take another life.”
Darby was charged on Monday with second-degree murder without regard and was previously convicted of a similar crime.
Channel 9 reported in January 2011 that CMPD charged him with fatally hitting 55-year-old Robert Hall and then driving off from the scene.
Darby pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run and was sentenced to a maximum of 18 months in prison and 30 months of probation, according to court records.
“I don’t know what the system did but if the system worked in any fashion, my son might still be alive today,” Stanley Zadrozny said.
Ryan Zadrozny recently graduated from college and was starting a career as an investment banker.
“Just watching your kid start to spread their wings. It was really nice to have him come home and just see him start his career, and he was so proud of it,” his dad said.
Stanley Zadrozny said he blames a justice system that didn’t appear to have worked.
“We’re going to do our best to make sure that it works this second time so that a third person doesn’t get killed,” he said.
Ryan Zadrozny’s friends were not hurt.
Darby took officers on a short chase before he eventually crashed.
He’s in jail on a $1 million secured bond.
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