Driver who hit girl in crosswalk gets 45 days
12-year-old was struck outside her school
The driver who struck and killed a 12-year-old girl crossing the street in a crosswalk in front of Cleveland Middle School in the spring of 2018 has been sentenced to 45 days in the county jail.
Revi Pexa, 76, pleaded no contest to careless driving on Friday in state District Court, according to Michael Patrick, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.
“We spoke to the victim’s family, who wanted prosecutors to seek vehicular homicide charges, but the evidence did not support the charge,” Patrick wrote in an email. “He was going two miles over the speed limit and swerved to avoid a car that was in front of him.”
One afternoon in March 2018, sixth-grader Eliza “Justine” Almuina and her friend ran across the street to the Smith’s grocery store at Louisiana near Montgomery NE for a snack.
As they returned, a vehicle in the left lane stopped to let them pass. Pexa, driving in the right lane, swerved to avoid the car in front of him and drove through the crosswalk, hitting Almuina.
She was taken to the hospital, where she died.
The crash spurred the city to revamp the crossing in front of her middle school by installing a HAWK light that flashes yellow to alert drivers to slow down and then switches to red when a button is pushed by a pedestrian.
The city also conducted a study of the school crosswalks that need the most improvement, flagging six as priorities and 15 others that should be monitored.
Pexa was ordered to turn himself into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Nov. 4, Patrick said.