US

LA DA Gives Light Sentence To Teen Who Mowed Down A Mom And Baby With Stolen Car

No featured image available

A 16-year old who ran over a mother and her baby in a stolen car in August 2021 was sentenced to 5-7 months in a juvenile facility Friday despite his prior criminal record, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles.

The teenager pled guilty to a hit-and-run and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury after driving into a woman pushing a stroller with an eight-month-old baby inside it, according to Fox 11. A video of the incident shows the woman moving toward a concrete wall to get out of the car’s way, but the driver swerved into her and nearly hit the concrete wall.

The juvenile camp where the teenager will serve out his sentence is “less than a military school and a little bit tougher than a summer camp,” prosecutors said, according to Fox 11.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon initially claimed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) “agreed with the felony charges” and sentencing in this case, according to Fox 11, but walked back that statement after Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his agency had never been consulted on the matter.

“Need to correct our statement from yesterday. LASD was not involved in the decision on the felony charge, as they were not the investigating agency in that case,” a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office later told Fox 11.

THREAD (1/4) A 16 y/o hit & run driver in a stolen car who ran over a mom & child in Venice was sentenced on Friday to 5-7 months in juvie camp. LA DA @GeorgeGascon office tells me this was an “appropriate resolution”, but I’ve learned he has a prior criminal history. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/HupMw9KRFu

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 5, 2022

The driver was violating his probation at the time of the incident; he had been convicted of felony poisoning after spiking a girl’s drink in 2019, resulting in the girl being hospitalized, according to Fox 11. Gascon’s office declined to charge the young man with attempted murder or assault with a deadly weapon for the 2021 hit and run.

“Someone with a criminal record tried to kill me and my son, and George Gascon thinks that five months of camp is a sufficient punishment,” the victim of the hit and run told Fox 11. “Gascon and his staff are highlighting their incompetence and their complete disregard for victims.”

Gascon’s office did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.