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Ice cream truck driver jailed after fatal accident

An Florida ice cream truck driver who fled after a 2-year-old boy ran in front of her truck and was killed has been sentenced to six months in jail.
/ Source: The Associated Press

An ice cream truck driver who fled after a 2-year-old boy ran in front of her truck and was killed has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Angela Rodriguez, 28, pleaded guilty Thursday to leaving the scene of a crash involving a death. She entered the plea after a jury was unable to reach a verdict following five hours of deliberations.

Rodriguez is scheduled to report to jail April 6 and then serve six months of house arrest.

Authorities say her ice cream truck struck the boy, Moses Joseph, after he wandered into her path near his apartment complex in March 2005. Moses died at the scene.

Rodriguez testified that she briefly picked up the boy, but became scared and drove away when residents of the apartment complex began yelling at her. She later turned herself in.

The boy’s mother, Emmanuelle Richard, 21, said she was not happy with the plea deal.

“It was a mistake,” Richard said. “But the fact is she ran. She didn’t call 911. The only thing she cared about was herself. It’s like my son was not a human being. She showed no remorse for my child, and for me.”