Fatal Car Accident Leads to Two-Year Prison Sentence for Pomona Teenager

After a man from Chino was killed during a pedestrian accident in April, the teenager responsible for the accident was sentenced to two years in prison. The teenager is an 18-year old man that struck the 42-year old as he was walking to his mailbox. Apparently the boy had been texting on his cell phone and was not paying attention to the road ahead of him. His vehicle drifted to the side of the road where the middle-aged man was walking toward his mailbox, and the teenager struck him. Rather than calling for help for the injured man, the teenager drove away, leaving the man injured and dying. Later on along his way, the teenager stopped to survey the damage that had been done to his vehicle, but he still did not turn around to help the man, nor did he call for medical help. Instead he went to his home in Pomona.

Soon after the accident, the niece of the deceased man, knowing from the police reports that he had been killed in a pedestrian accident with a vehicle, drove around the area to search for a car with front-end damage. The police had described to her how a vehicle would look after hitting a pedestrian, so she searched for a car in which this type of damage was present. She found the teenager’s vehicle in Pomona, but it is unknown whether or not she reported it right away. Two days later, however, the teenager finally turned himself over to the police in Chino for his crime.

Because the teenager was not under the influence of alcohol and had no previous driving infractions on his record, he was given a mere two-year sentence in jail for his crime. The boy also reached a plea bargain with the Chino judge in which he agreed to plea to no contest on all three counts for which he was charged: felony hit and run, infraction for driving without car insurance, and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. He admitted to sending text messages while he was driving and becoming distracted before hitting the middle-aged man. The family of the deceased man is understandably upset that the sentence for which the boy is serving is relatively short, especially since the judge admitted to believing that the boy was not sorry for his crime. His family is pushing for a new law in which a crime of this nature will mandate at least four years in prison.

It is no surprise that cell phone usage continues to be a cause for distraction for many motorists, leading to multiple accidents across the country every year. If you have a loved one who has been killed in a vehicular accident in which the responsible driver was distracted because of cell phone usage, you should contact a personal injury attorney immediately. San Diego personal injury attorneys handle vehicular accident and hit and run cases on a daily basis. Lawyers have the knowledge and expertise necessary to help you and your family receive the financial compensation you deserve for the pain and suffering your loved one had to bear because of someone else’s negligence and reckless behavior.