DARTMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - A California man who left the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident in Dartmouth was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months in jail, officials say.
Natalie Vieira, 59, pleaded guilty to the single count indictment on Wednesday afternoon and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. Vieira was ordered to serve 20 months of the jail sentence, with the balance of the jail term suspended for three years, according to Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.
Officials say on March 3, Vieira struck 33-year-old Westport resident Stasha Faria from behind while she was walking eastbound on State Road in Dartmouth.
Police recovered evidence at the scene suggesting the motor vehicle involved was a Chevrolet Uplander (model years 2005-2009), and on March 6, police learned that a Chevy Uplander was being stored in Fall River. The owner of auto body shop told police he towed the motor vehicle March 5 from a home on Highland Avenue in Westport.
When police arrived at the home where the defendant was staying with a relative and questioned him, he initially denied driving the vehicle on the date of the incident, but later confessed to driving the vehicle, saying he thought he hit a light pole and didn’t stop because he panicked, officials say.
Further investigation revealed Vieira was not texting while driving and was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the hit and run.
Accident reconstruction also determined that Vieira could not have avoided or prevented the collision with the victim.
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