STEVE MARCUS
Nyakueth Tear of Salt Lake City, Utah waits in court during her sentencing at the Regional Justice Center Tuesday, April 22, 2014. Tear struck eight pedestrians with her car in the street outside of a North Las Vegas church in August 2013 and fled the scene.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 | 12:51 p.m.
An 18-year-old Utah woman who drove away from a crash that injured eight pedestrians outside a North Las Vegas church last summer has been sentenced to three to 12 years in prison.
Shackled in chains in Clark County District Court this morning, Nyakueth Tear cried softly as Judge James Bixler imposed the sentence.
Her attorney, Ron Paulson, said the punishment was too harsh, noting that Tear had no previous criminal record. “She’s never been in trouble a day in her life,” he said.
Tear pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident after running into a crowd of people on Aug. 8 outside Iglesia de Cristo on Losee Road.
She then crashed her Mitsubishi into a piece of construction equipment and ran away from the wrecked car, North Las Vegas Police said.
She was identified as the driver by a victim and a witness, police said.
A 54-year-old man was critically hurt in the crash. Seven others, including a pregnant woman, were not seriously injured.
Tear reportedly told police that she had been in the Las Vegas area for a week, living out of the Mitsubishi. Police said she didn’t have a driver’s license or insurance, and the car registration was expired.
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