The daughter of a veteran LAPD officer will face two years in state prison for killing a bicyclist in a hit-and-run collision.
In July 2013, Vanessa Yanez, 24, struck postal worker Jesse Dotson Jr. while driving along El Segundo Boulevard near Vermont Avenue in Gardena, prosecutors said.
Three days after the crash, Dotson, a 60-year-old postal worker, died in the hospital.
Yanez’s car was found with its windshield shattered at her family’s home less than a mile from the crash site. Investigators told NBC4 she reported the car stolen to the Huntington Park Police Department just hours after the collision.
Yanez surrendered to police, admitting she had been drinking before the collision, Gardena Police Lt. Steve Prendergast said.
Yanez pleaded no contest to two felony counts - leaving the scene of a crash and perjury - in August.
She also pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter.
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Yanez is the daughter of LAPD Sgt. Arturo Yanez. He is currently the subject of an internal investigation into whether he had any role in his daughter's attempt to cover up the hit and run. LAPD said the investigation in ongoing.
Dotson’s family spoke out in court.
"You left my brother for dead. All along you knew you hit a human being," Annette Dotson Woodard said. "All you had to do was stop. This could have been avoided had you stopped. Just a few seconds may have meant my brother's life."
Yanez did not look at Dotson’s family as they expressed their grief and frustration.
"We loved him," Lorna Ashley Dotson, the victim's wife, told the court.
Dotson’s family said after the sentencing that they feel the justice system failed.
"It's really despicable that that's a child of law enforcement," Lorna Dotson said. "Somebody that should have taught their child to do the right thing.
Prosecutors said the maximum six year sentence was unlikely, as Yanez had no criminal history, but that was of little help to Dotson's family.
"It's unjust to me," his daughter Alyssa Dotson said. "I don't feel like justice has really been served for my father knowing what he has brought to this world."
