Driver pleads guilty to killing motorcyclist in Dormont crash, faces deportation

Christian Sluka played multiple instruments in his band, adored his cats and spent much of his time caring for and mentoring his three younger brothers.

When he was killed last year while riding his motorcycle in Dormont, it left an emotional and physical void for his loved ones.

“I feel like I lost a part of myself,” Sluka’s aunt, Marsha Goisse, said Monday.

Still, she told the man responsible, she forgives him.

“I know what happened was an accident,” she said. “I know you didn’t mean to do what happened.”

Saul Rivera-Ramirez, 26, pleaded guilty Monday to homicide by vehicle, being involved in an accident causing death, reckless driving and driving without a license.

He was ordered to serve two to four years in prison as part of a plea agreement.

Rivera-Ramirez, who is from Mexico but was living in Etna, is also expected to be deported based on the charges. He had a previous conviction in federal court in Arizona in February 2019 for unlawfully entering the United States near Naco, Ariz.

Rivera-Ramirez was deported at that time, according to federal court records, but subsequently re-entered the country illegally. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

According to a criminal complaint, Sluka, 23, was on his motorcycle around 10:42 p.m. in the northbound lane of West Liberty Avenue when a Ford Taurus rear-ended the bike and forced it into oncoming traffic.

Sluka was thrown from the motorcycle and sustained severe head injuries. He died a short time later at UPMC Mercy.

After the crash, police said video surveillance showed Rivera-Ramirez and his wife exiting the car with their two children, ages 5 and 2, and leaving the scene.

He turned himself in the next day.

Rivera-Ramirez told police that the car he was driving was struck by another car, causing their airbags to go off. He said he and his wife got the children out because the vehicle was smoking.

He admitted to police he saw Sluka lying on the street but did not stop to help him.

That, Goisse told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski, was the most upsetting part.

“I was there when Christian was born,” she said. “In my mind, I wanted someone to hold his hand and kiss his forehead and tell him he was loved.”

The defendant cried as Goisse said, “I want you to know I forgive you.”

But Jason Sluka, the victim’s father, said he does not forgive Rivera-Ramirez.

Sluka said his son was a good man.

“Every word that came out of his mouth was said with respect,’ he said. “He impressed everyone he met.”

Christian’s 16-year-old brother, Jonah, said that Christian picked his brothers up every weekend and took them to his house, which he bought on his own, to play music. He taught him to do the dishes, take out the garbage and be a responsible young man, his brother said.

“I hope you realize what you did to my family,” Jonah told the defendant. “You got out of the car. You stared at his lifeless body and walked away.

“I don’t understand how a man can do that.”

Defense attorney Tirza Ann Kyes said her client has been remorseful since she met him. He turned himself in and cooperated with the investigation, she said.

“He knows these charges will deport him and will separate him from his children and that he will not be able to return to the United States,” she said.

Rivera-Ramirez, who was emotional throughout the hearing, spoke in Spanish and apologized through an interpreter.

“I ask for forgiveness of the family,” he said. “It was not my intention to hurt anybody. I’m really sorry.”