Yuba City woman sentenced for hit-and-run that killed 13-year-old boy walking to school
A judge sentenced a woman to serve 15 years to life in prison for a 2019 drunk driving crash in Yuba City that killed a 13-year-old boy walking to school, according to the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office.
Sutter Superior Court Judge Laura J. Davis on Friday sentenced Constance Nicole Addison for the hit-and-run crash that killed Alec Flores, Deputy District Attorney Diego Heimlich told The Sacramento Bee.
Addison, 38, of Yuba City was being held Tuesday at the Sutter County Jail as she awaits transfer to prison. Heimlich, who prosecuted the case against Addison, said she was released on bail not long after her October 2019 arrest and remained free on bail as she awaited trial.
Addison was remanded into custody shortly after the verdict in the case.
A Butte County jury on Aug. 27 found Addison guilty of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run resulting in death and misdemeanor child endangerment. A defense motion for a change-of-venue was granted in January, moving the case to Butte County.
Heimlich said on Tuesday the child endangerment charge stemmed from the fact that Addison’s three children were in the vehicle she was driving when it struck the teenage boy. The prosecutor said Addison’s children were not injured.
Flores, an 8th-grade student at Franklin Elementary School, was walking to school about 8 a.m. Oct. 7, 2019, when he was struck by the vehicle near Franklin and Lyndsey roads in Yuba City, the school’s principal said at the time. The boy was taken to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he later died from his injuries.
The prosecutor said Addison’s blood alcohol content measured at 0.24%, three times the legal limit of 0.08% for drivers.
Heimlich said Addison had training as an emergency medical technician. Even though her EMT license had expired at the time of the crash, Heimlich said Addison would’ve known how to provide the boy immediate medical attention.
Instead, Addison drove away from the scene in her 2013 Ford Explorer, the prosecutor said. Addison was arrested that same day she struck Flores with her vehicle.
Addison’s manslaughter charge included an enhancement for leaving the scene of the crash, Heimlich said.
Family creates athletic scholarship fund
The boy’s family has created an athletic scholarship fund to honor his memory. The second “10 For Alec Challenge” online campaign to remember him and raise funds for youth sports scholarships starts Thursday and continues through Oct. 17.
The campaign is hosted by the nonprofit Alec Flores Youth Sports Scholarship Corporation. This year, it includes a YouTube video of former San Francisco 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci kicking off the fundraising event.
“Alec loved the competition and camaraderie of sports. They had an incredibly positive impact on his life,” Luis Flores, the boy’s father, said in a news release Tuesday. “We created this organization to help share the benefit of sports with as many kids as possible.”
To participate in the online challenge, people are asked to make a video or show a picture of 10 of something, post it on social media with the hashtag #10ForAlec, then nominate someone else to take part in the challenge. The challenge is complete once they donate $10 or more, according to the nonprofit that is run by his father and his mother, Tara Repka Flores.
“We want people to participate and have fun with this challenge,” the mother said in Tuesday’s news release. “It seems the best way to remember him. In the future, we hope we can hold an annual in-person memorial fundraising event.”
Melissa Remington, the nonprofit’s treasurer, said their goal is to have each participant donate $10 to the scholarship fund, but participants can donate as much as they want.
