A man who allegedly drove drunk and fled the scene after striking and killing a University Heights bartender pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that include murder.
Brandon Allen Janik, 37, was arrested nearly three months after police say he struck Joshua Gilliland, 47, on the night of June 10.
Gilliland was crossing the three-way intersection of Normal Street and El Cajon and Park boulevards when he was hit by a BMW heading eastbound on Normal that ran a red light, according to San Diego police Sgt. Victoria Houseman.
Paramedics took Gilliland to a hospital, where he died of his injuries four days later.
Detectives eventually were able to identify Janik as the alleged driver of the 2022 BMW that struck the victim.
Janik was booked into San Diego Central Jail on Tuesday. He faces 18 years to life in state prison if convicted of all charges and remains in custody without bail following Thursday’s arraignment.
Gilliland was a bartender at Cheers on Adams Avenue. Following Thursday’s court hearing, his co-worker Mickey De Guia described Gilliland as “goofy, genuine … naive in all the right ways and warm in all the right ways.”
De Guia, also a bartender and a friend of Gilliland’s for nearly 20 years, said, “Josh, I, many of us who are bartenders, we actually do what we can to prevent things like this from happening. I want to say out there to people, `Find another way home.”‘
De Guia and another friend of Gilliland’s, Lisa Kogan, urged people to use rideshare services rather than get behind the wheel while intoxicated.
Kogan said Gilliland “was such a sweet, gentle, kind soul” and called what happened “a senseless, preventable tragedy.”
She added, “There’s so many people that this is a loss and tragedy for, not just for Josh and his family, but for Brandon’s family.”
– City News Service
