Breaking news: Wendy Villegas accepts plea in September hit-and-run death of cyclist Andy Garcia
March 20, 2014 / bikinginla / 7 comments
Ghost bike being installed for Andy Garcia; photo from Ghost Bike Luis "Andy" Garcia Facebook page
News is just coming in that Wendy Villegas has been convicted in the hit-and-run death of cyclist Luis "Andy" Garcia.
According to Danny Gamboa, Villegas changed her plea to no contest for the September 14th collision that took the life of Garcia, and left two other riders seriously injured.
Gamboa reports she accepted a plea bargain of three years and eight months in prison for felony hit-and-run and DUI. That represents a gift from the DA's office, as she had been facing a minimum of five to seven years for vehicular manslaughter, DUI and felony hit-and-run, with a maximum of 10 to 15 years.
In other words, she was sentenced to just 20% of what she could have faced.
Garcia was riding with Ule Melgar, Mario Lopez and two other riders on the LA River Bridge on Cesar Chavez Avenue near Mission Road at 2:45 am on Saturday, September 14th, when they were hit from behind with no warning by Villegas' car.
She proceeded to drive home, dragging Garcia's bike several hundred feet beneath her car according to LA Streetsblog. She was reportedly still drunk when she was taken into custody several hours later.
Meanwhile, her victims remained where they'd fallen. Lopez had been tossed into the air, breaking his back and leg; Melgar was nearly knocked over the guardrail and into the LA River below.
Garcia was left lying in the roadway, where he was run over by a second vehicle. Whether he could have survived the initial impact had Villegas stopped as the law requires will never be known.
Many reports suggested that the 21-year old Villegas never seemed to grasp the seriousness of her actions, as exemplified by this courtroom incident reported by Sahra Sulaiman in the Streetsblog story above.
So, when she and her lawyer complained that wearing an ankle bracelet that would monitor both alcohol intake and movement would be inconvenient to a young, working student as well as a challenge for her to pair it properly with the variety of shoes she wears, Lopez couldn't take it any more.
"I thought to myself at that moment, 'Well, what about Andy?'" he wrote. "'[Andy] was a full time student in college. He had responsibilities. But yet, he can't and will never be able to fulfill them…And she is worried about her fashion sense! What about the inconvenience she brought upon his family and friends?'"
He finally yelled out, "But she killed someone!"
Maybe a few years in state prison will succeed in driving that home.
Update: KTLA-5 reports that Villegas is scheduled for sentencing on April 22nd. Not surprisingly, the story notes that many of the cyclists in the courtroom were unhappy with the minimal sentence, and the Garcia's mother was repulsed by Villegas lack of remorse.
Category: Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Legal Cases / Tags: Andy Garcia, bicycling fatality, hit-an-run, Los Angeles, Wendy Villegas
I will never understand the complacency shown by prosecutors when dealing with death by motor vehicle violence. It has been proven time and again that getting hit with a motor vehicle is orders of magnitude more deadly than getting shot, but they still treat motor vehicle violence as trivial and the punishments reflect this.
Tom Stricklin says:
How about a rope to go with those heels instead of an ankle monitor?
I can only echo what Opus said, getting run down by a 4,000 scud missile is a horrible way to die – much left on the street to die so that someone else comes by and finishes you off. These "Prosecutors" need a real life wake up call – cause they won't react until someone they love is ground down in the street to die.
My heart can only feel disgust and anger towards that irresponsible assassin. I hope the suffers, a lot, in jail. Condolences to the families of the fallen
Kristi Finney-Dunn says:
So no conviction for the death at all. No assault convictions. This makes me so angry, that her callousness, selfishness, and lack of remorse is rewarded by less time and no conviction for the devastation of human life. The man who killed my son Dustin Finney in 2011 was more upset about losing his drivers license for life than about going to prison. But thankfully, overall he seemed remorseful. Does California know about the Medina Alert for hit and runs that is close to becoming state law in Colorado and is getting attention in Oregon as well?
http://www.kgw.com/news/Amber-Alert-for-hit-and-run-drivers-251618301.html
When she expressed concern with the ankle bracelet not meeting her fashion concerns the DA should have yanked the bargain and gone for the maximum. Unfortunately time and time again the DA, whether male or female, demonstrates a real lack of backbone when prosecuting criminals that have affected the general public.
Tonie says:
She deserves.more time a LIFE was taken away Dammitttt