Shockingly-entitled and unrepentant courtroom outburst of killer hit-and-run EV driver, 77, as she’s handed very light sentence
A 77-year-old woman who killed a pedestrian with her car appeared to imply that she was the victim. She was sentenced to a year in prison and two years of probation.
Donna Jacobs pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a traffic accident after fatally striking 42-year-old Stephen Debow in San Diego last November and then leaving the scene of the crime.
Debow died six days after he was struck by Jacobs’ Hyundai Ioniq EV while crossing an unmarked crosswalk. Jacobs’ car continued to travel for approximately 65 feet with Debow sitting on the hood.
But Jacobs struck a completely unrepentant tone during the sentencing on Monday.
She claimed in court that she never saw Debow and that she thought she was being attacked when her windshield was smashed, as reported by NBC San Diego.
“I didn’t see anyone, I didn’t hear anyone around,” she told the court. “I thought I was being attacked.”
Donna Jacobs pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter after fatally striking 42-year-old Stephen Debow and leaving the scene of the crash in San Diego last November
Debow died six days after he was struck by Jacobs’ Hyundai Ioniq while crossing an unmarked zebra crossing
Jacobs said she panicked, drove home and didn’t call police because she had no “actionable” information to provide and hadn’t seen her “attacker.”
“If I had known I was going to hit a human being, I would have done something about it,” Jacobs added.
Prosecutors told the court that Jacobs drove home after hitting Debow, called her insurance and made a false statement about the accident.
According to a judge, Jacobs also took her car to an auto body shop in an attempt to hide her involvement in the collision.
Debow’s friends were in court to speak before Jacobs was sentenced and criticized her for leaving the scene of the accident
Jacobs claimed in court that she never saw Debow and that she thought she was being attacked when her windshield was smashed
It took several weeks for police to identify Jacobs as the driver who hit Debow.
Jacobs will likely spend her time in prison under house arrest, due to her age and lack of a criminal history.
While the cause of the crash is unknown, prosecutors said Jacobs received an Instacart notification around the time of the collision.
DeBow’s friends were in court to speak before Jacobs was sentenced, criticizing her for leaving the scene of the accident.
“If you had done the right thing, I would have forgiven you. But you chose to run away from responsibility,” Michael Berardi said.