Man Sentenced For Hit-And-Run That Killed Mother Of 7 In Anaheim
ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — A 31-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for running over a mother of seven with his pickup truck and leaving her to die.
Junior Rigoberto Lopez of Buena Park struck Daniella Palacios the night of Nov. 1 in Anaheim, knocking her off her bicycle near La Palma and Magnolia avenues, according to prosecutors.
Police report Lopez briefly stopped before fleeing.
Palacios' family says she was on a routine visit to feed the homeless.
The 44-year-old woman was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, where she died a few hours later.
Prosecutors say that after the collision, Lopez drove to Mexico to get his white 2013 Ford F-150 pickup repaired. He returned on Dec. 11 to retrieve the vehicle.
Relatives of Palacios, who also had 11 grandchildren, told the court at a June hearing how her death impacted their lives.
"I'm not going to say I hate (the defendant)... but he needs to pay the consequences," said the victim's mother Julie Lopez.
Elena Garcia wrote a statement, that was read aloud in court, about losing her mother: "My whole world has been completely shattered ... I have done and made so much of my life since she's been gone and I wish she could have been here to experience these accomplishments with me."
Garcia said she understood the collision was an accident, but "can't seem to understand how a person can drive away without any sense of remorse. I constantly ask myself why a person would do such a horrible thing."
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