Boynton driver sentenced to prison for fatal hit-and-run at Lake Worth church

WEST PALM BEACH — A Boynton Beach man will spend more than two decades in prison for a fatal car crash so horrific, one prosecutor called it the worst he'd seen in his career.

Corey Bell, 42, stole a Toyota hatchback from a repair shop in March 2022. Days later, he sped down a residential road in Lake Worth Beach and lost control of the car, slamming into 74-year-old bicyclist Jim Beloian as he stood in front of Lakeside United Methodist Church.

The force of the impact was so great that it destroyed part of the building and killed Beloian, though not instantly. One witness said it looked as though "a bomb went off."

"I deal with all types of carnage," Assistant State Attorney Storm Tropea said later. "This is the worst case."

First report: Out-of-control driver hits and kills Lake Worth Beach man, then flees scene

Surveillance video recorded Bell as he stepped out of the wreckage and walked away from Beloian, neck broken and limbs bent. He left without calling 911.

Bell was arrested by Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies the following July and spent more than a year in jail preparing for trial. On the day it was supposed to begin, he pleaded guilty instead.

He did so after rejecting a 20-year plea agreement from prosecutors in hopes that Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss would sentence him to something shorter Wednesday. She did the opposite.

"The facts are particularly egregious here," Weiss told Bell. "You snuffed out inexplicably the life of a great contributor to society. Gregarious, a man who loved life, an intellectually curious and joyful man, loved by many."

Bicyclist 'loved by many,' friends and family tell judge

Beloian was known as an avid outdoorsman and a careful bicyclist who followed the rules of the road religiously. Charles Lang III, Beloian's nephew, said that to die in broad daylight, as he straddled his bike in a church parking lot was a "nightmarish irony."

Weiss sentenced Bell to 25 years in prison for vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, charges that were punishable by up to 30 years in prison each. She pointed to Bell's prior history of traffic infractions and run-ins with police, rejecting Bell's argument that the crash was the "wake-up call" he needed.

"What about all these other times?" she asked.

Bell and his attorney, Barry Feingold, said nothing.

Hit-and-run driver called a 'gentle giant'

Feingold had called Bell a "gentle giant" who fled from the crash because he couldn't comprehend the enormity of it. He left behind Beloian, still in his death throes, and Kathleen Kramer, a friend who accompanied Beloian on his daily bike ride that day.

"When we were unlocking our bikes to continue with our ride, he had a big smile on his face and said, 'Isn't this fun?' " she said. "Thirty minutes later, he was brutally slain. Dead. Gone."

A registered nurse of 30 years, Kramer said she'd never seen an injury of that magnitude. She was joined by more of Beloian's family and friends at the hearing — one of whom had known Beloian only for a short time but felt impacted by his loss nonetheless.

When given his own opportunity to talk, Bell apologized. He spoke of an all-consuming guilt that has overshadowed the joy of becoming a new grandfather while in custody.

"It's hard being joyful as a father and a grandfather when there's a family missing their father," he said.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Driver who killed outdoorsman in hit-and-run apologizes to family in court