Suspect caught/charged in Inglewood hit-and-run death of teen
From the District Attorney's Office:
INGLEWOOD - The District Attorney's office filed charges today against a South Los Angeles man accused of the hit-and-run death of a 14-year-old boy on a street in Inglewood on Sunday.
Andre Thompson, 40 (dob 9-2-1968), was scheduled to appear for arraignment this afternoon in Department 5 of Inglewood Superior Court. He was arrested by Inglewood police on Tuesday.
Thompson was charged in case No. YA 075765 with one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident. It was alleged that Thompson personally inflicted great bodily injury upon the victim, Semaj Spencer. The defendant also was charged with one misdemeanor count each of vehicular manslaughter and driving when his privilege was suspended or revoked.
The complaint alleged two prior drug convictions. Bail was recommended at $80,000.
Inglewood police said Spencer was hit and killed shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday while crossing Imperial Highway east of Crenshaw Boulevard. The car that hit the boy sped away.
The case was filed by Deputy District Attorney Christine Johnston of the Inglewood office. It has not yet been assigned to a trial prosecutor.
If convicted of the felony charge and enhancement, the defendant faces a possible maximum seven-year state prison term. The misdemeanor charges carry a possible maximum sentence of one and a half years in county jail.
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Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
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This coward and punk was caught by the excellent work of the professionals at IPD.
Remember fools, you can run but you cannot hide. Meet up to your responsibilities like a man and not like wuss.
Life is full of choices. All choices have consequences.
I agree with Bob, this punk is a coward! But the sentence of 7 years is to easy. Give him a min of 20 years. Remember, a human being of 14 years was killed by this coward!!!
Big Mo
Eastside Torrance
this dude need more than any 7yrs give him 14yrs
for the chile & 14yrs for leaving the scean & 14yrs for being a fool cowrdie
Through media coverage of this tragic event it appears that the victim was one out of group of kids crossing a multi-lane major highway yards away from the pedestrian crosswalk when the accident accrued. Its unfortunate that a young life have been taken but there a lesson to be learned here, always use the pedestrian crosswalk when crossing the highway and never leave the scene of an accident before the proper authorities arrive.
God bless the victim family, and friends and the driver and his family and friends, we as a community all have suffered a great lost.
The victim of this accident was our youngest son. We will never forget him. We will perserve until justice is done.
He needs to get everything coming to him. For every year of that childs life his term needs to be doubled. I just lost my daughter on 7/11/09, she was hit by a driver under the influence of a controlled substance and the person that hit her it out on bail and was only charged with DUI. So to the parents of this young boy fight until you feel justice has been served.