Driver Who Confessed To Venice Hit-And-Run Gets Juvenile Probation

VENICE, CA — A 17-year-old who pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run with a woman walking her 8-month-old baby in a stroller in Venice was on probation at the time of the incident, Fox 11 Los Angeles reported.

The driver was previously convicted of felony poisoning after spiking a girl’s drink at Palmdale Hospital, resulting in hospitalization, Fox reported. On Aug. 6, 2021, the driver hit a mother walking her baby in a stroller down a Venice side street. Video shows the suspect speeding the wrong way down a one-way street. Both the mother and child survived with only minor injuries, according to Fox News.

Though the driver was charged with two felony assaults for the hit-and-run, and the District Attorney’s office declined to charge the driver with assault with attempted murder or assault with a deadly weapon, according to Fox News. Instead, the driver was sentenced to five to seven months in a juvenile probation camp.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon initially said in a statement that the charges were filed in consultation with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, but later corrected that statement, saying that the LASD was "not involved in the decision on the felony charge."

Los Angeles County Sheriff Villanueva wrote on Facebook and Twitter that investigators “would never be OK with the lightweight sentencing in this hit-and-run case.”

The victim, identified as Rachel, has publicly excoriated Gascon.

"Not only did you not charge attempted murder that is provable by the driving pattern, you didn’t charge assault with a deadly weapon with a car because it would be a strike on the minor’s record," she told Fox News Digital, referring to Gascon.