A 77-year-old woman who fatally struck a pedestrian with her car in North Park and left the scene was sentenced Monday to one year of custody and two years probation.
Donna Jacobs pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run charges for hitting 42-year-old Del Mar resident Stephen Debow with her car on Nov. 21, 2023.
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Debow was crossing Utah Street at around 7:15 p.m. in an unmarked crosswalk when he was struck by a Hyundai Ioniq that continued down the road for about 65 feet while the victim was atop the car's hood. Debow died at a hospital six days later.
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Due to Jacobs' age, ongoing physical ailments, and lack of criminal history, the year in custody will likely be spent on house arrest with GPS monitoring if she is accepted into the County Parole and Alternative Custody program.
At Jacobs' sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Roza Egiazarian alleged Jacobs drove home after striking Debow, called her insurance company, and provided a false statement regarding the circumstances of the crash. The prosecutor also argued Jacobs took her car to a body shop the following day in an attempt to conceal what happened.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, but Egiazarian alleged Jacobs received an Instacart message around the time of the collision, but the prosecutor said, "unfortunately, I cannot represent to this court whether or not Ms. Jacobs read that message and was distracted by that message when she collided with Mr. Debow."
Egiazarian said the evidence connecting Jacobs to the crash included surveillance footage capturing a car matching hers in the area, vehicle parts left at the crash scene, and "numerous" anonymous tips.
Jacobs made a statement in court, in which she said she never saw Debow. She stated her windshield was suddenly smashed and she thought she was being attacked by someone who intentionally struck her car, possibly with a baseball bat.
Jacobs said she panicked and drove home. She did not report what happened to police because she didn't have any useful information to provide them, she said. According to Jacobs, she didn't see her purported attacker, was not familiar with the neighborhood she was driving in, and did not know what street she was driving on.
"If I had known I'd hit a human being, I would have done something about it," Jacobs said.
Several of Debow's friends who spoke in court excoriated Jacobs for leaving the scene.
Michael Berardi told Jacobs, "If you did the right thing, I would have forgiven you. But you chose to run from responsibility."
Berardi said Debow was "a man who gave everything to his friends, family, and community," while Casey Callahan called Debow "a pillar of our community who can never be replaced."
