New Jersey woman gets five years for death of Myrtle Beach High graduate

A New Jersey woman was sentenced to five years in prison for the 2009 death of Derrick Rosado, a 22-year-old Myrtle Beach resident, according to TheDailyJournal.com, an online news service in Vineland, N.J.

A judge in New Jersey sentenced Jessica Lane of Millville, N.J., during a hearing there on Friday.

Rosado was a popular skateboarder in Myrtle Beach and a familiar face at the Matt Hughes Skatepark, behind Pepper Geddings Recreation Center. His mother, Tina Rosado, and three friends attended the sentencing to speak about Derrick.

"It was very emotional, but I managed," said Rosado of speaking at the sentencing. "It was tense, but it went well."

Rosado said she and her son moved to Myrtle Beach from New Jersey with her sister in October 1999 when Derrick was 11 years old. He attended Myrtle Beach Middle School and Myrtle Beach High School, graduating in 2006.

She said her son became interested in skateboarding while they were living in New Jersey.

"I bought him a Ninja Turtle skateboard, and he was always coming down the hills," Rosado said. "He was always my daredevil."

Skateboarders and friends said Derrick was extremely talented at the sport and was known by everyone at the skatepark both for his talent and his friendliness.

"He is the legend of the skatepark," said Eric Bordner, Derrick's best friend, who also spoke at the sentencing. "There was something magical about him, and the consensus among his best friends is he is forever young."

Aaron Frobase, who teaches skateboarding and exercise classes at Pepper Geddings, owned a skateboard shop and worked at Surf City, where he first met Derrick. He said Derrick was a free spirit and a vital member of the skateboarding community in Myrtle Beach.

"It was Derrick's park," Frobase said of the skatepark, where he painted a memorial wall on one of the ramps after hearing of his death. "He did every trick he could possibly do, tricks no one else would do. He probably could've been a professional skater. He was just a one-of-a-kind sort of person."

Rosado said her son's dream was to go to California and be a professional skateboarder. She had even planned to buy a camcorder so he could record his tricks.

Rosado said Derrick would visit his grandmother in New Jersey every year around Christmas, and he and his cousins spent countless hours skateboarding, even going into New York City to skateboard in spots such as Times Square and under the Brooklyn Bridge.

He was killed while he was riding in the backseat of a car, along with his grandmother, aunt and cousin, who were all injured.

According to TheDailyJournal.com article, Lane was traveling in her vehicle and struck the car Derrick was traveling in from behind.

In October, Lane pleaded guilty to charges of death by auto, assault by auto and driving while intoxicated, according to the article. She was sentenced to five years in state prison on the death by auto charge and must serve 85 percent of that to be eligible for parole; she will be on parole for three years after release; she was sentenced to 18 months, to be served at the same time as the larger sentence, for the assault by auto charge; and she was fined for the DWI charge, the report said.

Bordner said area skateboarders want to set up some type of memorial for Derrick at the skatepark, but Rosado said she will probably put up the memorial herself.

"I'll just do it to honor Derrick," she said. "I know everybody loved him and are missing him."