Woman gets 2 months in death of Md. girl killed by car

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) - A Maryland woman who was learning to drive when she fatally hit a 13-year-old girl has been sentenced to two months in jail during an emotional court hearing.

Esperanza Vasquez of Takoma Park was sentenced Thursday on a traffic charge in Montgomery County court. Prosecutors have said they wouldn't file criminal charges against Vasquez because her actions didn't rise to the level of criminal negligence or reckless disregard for human life.

Vasquez, 34, was learning how to drive in the parking lot of Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring on July 1 when her car jumped a curb and plunged down a grassy slope, killing 13-year-old Deborah Reyes Casasola. The teen had been watching a soccer game at the school.

Deborah's family said they're angry Vasquez didn't face harsher punishment.

"The law protected the criminal," Deborah's father, Wilbert Reyes, said after prosecutors announced there wouldn't be criminal charges.

Reyes was coaching soccer that day, saw his daughter being run over, and held her in his arms as she lay dying.

During Thursday's hearing, The Washington Post reported that Reyes and nearly 30 of Deborah's relatives packed the courtroom, many carrying sings reflecting their frustration that Vasquez didn't face harsher punishment.

At one point, a tearful Vasquez looked at Deborah's family and apologized repeatedly.

Her attorney, Steven Greenblat, said in court that Vasquez thinks about the girl's death every day, saying "she's tormented by this."

Prosecutor Bryan Roslund said the case was difficult for everyone involved and that Vasquez didn't intend to hurt anyone.

"This is precisely the horror of horrors that can happen when an unlicensed driver drives," Roslund said. "Somebody who is completely innocent, completely removed from this, is killed."