A judge gave the man who hit and killed a little boy in Arcadia the maximum sentence.

Robert Kreibich will serve 25 years: the first 15 in prison, the last ten on extended supervision.

His parents say he was a bubbly little boy who loved cooked carrots and the color orange, but they say he didn't even have a chance to live.

"My son is gone now. And they tell me that he is in a better place. It would be easier for me to accept if he had fought along with cancer, had a heart attack, or just got old, but Matt was five. He was the apple of his father's eye,” says his father, Mark McKay.

Nearly five months ago, 5-year-old Matthew McKay was sledding down a hill near his home in Arcadia, when 50-year-old Robert Kreibich hit and killed him with his car.

"This could have been a murder that could have been avoided, had one man chosen to adhere to his many previous warnings of driving violations, had chosen not to drive without a license,” says his mother, Susan McKay.

State lab reports show five hours after the crash, Kreibich's blood alcohol level was .284. That's more than three times the legal limit.

But Trempealeau County Judge John Damon says there's no way to prove Kreibich was drinking before the crash.

Although he does say he has a history with the law.

"Here's a fellow who's had contact with the system over his lifetime, 50 years. He knows how it works,” Damon says.

Court records show Kreibich has been convicted of drunk driving three other times and his license has been revoked since 2004.

The boy's family members say the fact that he was even driving that day is selfish.

"As I see it, Matthew's dead was very senseless and avoidable. The person who caused it with a prior record, as Robert Kreibich has, has no respect for the rules of our society,” says the boy’s grandfather, Tom Huhn.

Through many tears, the boy's mother says they'll never forget their son.