‘There’s a hole in my heart’ - Parents remember son killed in crash with alleged drunk driver

The parents of a College of New Jersey student killed in an automobile crash say that they are still trying to reconcile what happened.

News 12 Staff

Feb 6, 2019, 3:42 AM

Updated 2,078 days ago

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The parents of a College of New Jersey student killed in an automobile crash say that they are still trying to reconcile what happened.
College sophomore Michael Sot died in December after he was involved in a crash with an alleged drunk driver. And in a stroke of what some of Sot’s friends and family say is a cruel irony, Sot was acting as a designated driver when he died.
“The irony of this whole crash, it does eat at you. It gets to your head,” says Sot’s father Michael Sot, Sr.
It was Saturday, Dec. 1 and it was Sot’s turn to be his fraternity’s designated driver. His family says that when Sot had a job to do, and he took it very seriously. They say that he was a role model to his younger siblings.
"I miss him like crazy. There’s a huge hole in my heart. But you know, Michael lived a good life,” says Candice Buno-Sot.
His parents say that Sot also took care of his friends on the night that he died.
“He was telling them to put their seatbelts on. He drove back and forth that night, somewhere between 20 and 30 times as the designated driver,” says Sot’s father.
Sot was allegedly killed by 22-year-old David Lamar. Prosecutors say that Lamar’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit. Lamar allegedly tried to pass the cars ahead of him, drove over the double yellow line and hit Sot’s car head-on. The crash happened just after 2 p.m. Dec. 2.
Sot was killed and four other passengers injured.
Surveillance video from about 15 minutes before the crash appears to show Lamar stumbling out of a bar to smoke. He was allegedly at the bar for hours.
Sot’s parents say that they are suing the bar for over-serving Lamar.
Lamar is currently awaiting trial.
"I don’t think my son Michael would want to see somebody sit in jail for the rest of their life but he would want to see justice served,” says Michael Sr. says.
Sot’s parents are trying to keep his memory alive. A scholarship has been created in his name at his old high school in Clark.