A woman who intentionally drove her car into a 13-year-old boy in La Habra over a schoolyard fight the teen had with her son was sentenced Friday, Aug. 1, to one year in jail and two years of probation.
More than seven years after she left the teenager screaming in pain with a broken leg, and nearly four months after an Orange County Superior Court jury found her guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse and endangerment, an emotional Norma Alcazar embraced her family before taken into custody.
Noting that Alcazar is a 49-year-old mother of six with no previous criminal record, Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly opted against sentencing Alcazar to the two-year prison term sought by prosecutors.
“I want to apologize for any harm my actions caused,” Alcazar said during the sentencing hearing as she turned toward the mother of the victim, who immediately broke into tears.
“I hope you are sincere about that,” Judge Kelly told Alcazar. “You impacted a lot of people.”
Prosecutors said that Alcazar was enraged because her son had his nose bloodied during an after-school fight. While driving in her Ford Expedition, Alcazar came across the 13-year-old who had fought her son.
Alcazar initially “bumped” the teen with her SUV, but he was able to stay on his feet and ran across Harbor Boulevard, prosecutors said.
Alcazar drove after the teen, going onto the sidewalk near Harbor and La Habra Boulevard to strike him, breaking his leg and pinning him into some bushes while two of her sons got out of the SUV and repeatedly punched the defenseless victim, authorities said.
“She doesn’t call 911, she doesn’t check to see if this kid is OK,” Deputy District Attorney Neal Albright said. “She doesn’t know if this kid has internal injuries. She doesn’t know if he is bleeding out.”
Said Alcazar’s attorney, Christian Jensen: “She thought, wrongly, that she was protecting her kids.”
The judge noted that Alcazar’s one-year jail sentence will likely be shortened as long as she doesn’t get into trouble while in custody. She was also ordered to attend an anger-management program after her release; her driver’s license was suspended.
Her two involved minor-age sons were arrested, but it’s unclear if they were ever charged.