SHIRLEY WOMAN SENTENCED FOR LEAVING THE SCENE OF AN INCIDENT AFTER HITTING A 15-YEAR-OLD BOY WITH HER CAR

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Jennifer Nelson, 35, of Shirley, was sentenced to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison after a jury found her guilty in September for Leaving the Scene of an Incident after hitting a 15-year-old boy with her car several times and then fleeing the scene.

“This is a horrible turn of events that no child should ever have to endure by the hands of an adult,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Witnesses described how this defendant left a 15-year-old boy crawling away from her vehicle as she smirked and left the scene without remorse. Thoughtless and criminally dangerousness will not be tolerated in Suffolk County.”

The evidence at trial established that on October 7, 2022, Nelson mowed down a teenager with her 2020 Honda Passport after a verbal confrontation with him and others at a parking lot of a bagel store. Nelson’s vehicle struck the victim who then fell to the ground. She then drove over the victim, reversed her car, drove over the victim again and then fled the scene. In an attempt to evade police officers, Nelson traded in her vehicle for a newer model.

The victim suffered serious physical injuries including multiple fractures of the pelvis, six fractured ribs, a punctured lung, and numerous bruises and abrasions.

On September 26, 2023, Nelson was found guilty after a jury trial heard before Supreme Court Justice, Timothy P.  Mazzei for the charge of Leaving the Scene of an Incident Without Reporting, a Class E felony.

On January 26, 2024, Justice Mazzei sentenced Nelson to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison. She was represented by Katherine Fernandez, Esq. 

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Veronica M. McMahon, Tara K. O’Donnell, and James J. O’Rourke, IV of the Major Crime Bureau with investigative assistance from Detective Adam Friedlander of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Seventh Squad and SCDAO Violent Felony Offense Squad Detective Investigators John Roberts and Reginald Sykes.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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