Tragic Hit-and-Run: Teen Flees After Fatally Striking 75-Year-Old Grandmother Walking to Bus Stop

An Arizona teenager is facing a prison sentence of just under three years following a tragic hit-and-run incident involving a 75-year-old woman. The shocking event was captured on dashcam footage, revealing the teen stopping to check on the victim before choosing to flee the scene, prosecutors have reported.

“She was on top of the hood of the car,” recounted Maria Rodriguez-Romero, one of the six children of the late Sally Rodriguez, during an interview with KVOA, a local NBC affiliate, shortly after her mother’s death in Tucson last November.

The driver, identified as 18-year-old Alexis Eduardo Ibarra-Guerrero, was operating a vehicle without a license on November 3 when he struck Rodriguez. At the time, she was on her way to a bus stop for her daily commute to work. Tragically, she was found deceased just two blocks from her home.

According to police, Ibarra-Guerrero hit Rodriguez and proceeded to drive several blocks with her on the car’s hood. It is believed that Rodriguez either fell or was pushed off the vehicle in the vicinity of the 200 block of West Tennessee Street in Tucson.

“He essentially looked at the victim… and decided to take off,” a prosecutor stated in court following Ibarra-Guerrero’s arrest, as reported by KVOA.

The teen, who is reportedly in the United States illegally, turned himself in and confessed to the hit-and-run but was not found responsible for Rodriguez’s death due to the collision being ruled an accident, according to local CBS affiliate KOLD. He was charged with one count of failure to remain at the scene of a fatal collision, to which he pleaded guilty.

A Pima County judge sentenced Ibarra-Guerrero last week to 2 1/2 years behind bars, with credit for 100 days he already served, KOLD reports.

The woman’s family condemned the decision not to charge Ibarra-Guerrero for Rodriguez’s death, with her son-in-law telling KOLD in November, “I’m angry. … I’ve known people that have done less, and been charged with worse.”

Another family member told the court during Ibarra-Guerrero’s sentencing, “He needs to face the consequences that a grown man should. He messed up and now it’s time for him to face the music.”

Ibarra-Guerrero’s lawyer noted that while he accepts responsibility for fleeing, “the evidence in this case goes to show that this was an accident,” KOLD reports.

A GoFundMe launched for Rodriguez’s family describes her as a “devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and a pillar of our family and community.”

Unless Ibarra-Guerrero gets deported, he will be released on supervision at the completion of his sentence.

“The choices people make have real consequences,” Rodriguez’s son-in-law said at the teen’s sentencing. “Our children, our future, must learn responsibility.”