Charlottesville killer gets second sentence

A 3-year-old boy died Monday after falling into an underground grease trap behind an upstate New York fast-food restaurant.

Rochester Police Investigator Frank Camp said the toddler fell through a plastic cover into the grease trap behind a Tim Hortons restaurant Monday morning. Witnesses pulled the unidentified child out and administered CPR.

The boy’s mother had brought him to work at the Rochester restaurant, police told the Democrat & Chronicle.

Camp told The Associated Press the child was pronounced dead at Strong Memorial Hospital. He called the incident an “unspeakable tragedy.”

Restaurant grease traps are designed to keep used oil and grease out of sewer systems.

In Tulsa, Okla., a 5-yearold girl was rescued after falling into a grease trap in March 2018. White supremacist James Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years Monday for plowing his car into a group of anti-racism protesters in Virginia, killing one woman and injuring dozens.

Fields, 22, was found guilty in December of murdering 32year-old Heather Heyer by intentionally driving into counter-protesters at a 2017 “Unite the Right” rally. He was also convicted on nine other charges stemming from the horrific assault.

“Mr. Fields, you had choices. We all have choices,” Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore said in court Monday as he formally accepted the jury’s sentencing recommendation. “You made the wrong ones and you caused great harm. … You caused harm around the globe when people saw what you did.”

Last month,

Fields (photo) received his first life sentence on 29 federal hate crime charges.

“Every day I think about how things could have gone differently and how I regret my actions,” he said at the time. “I’m sorry.”

He declined to speak in court Monday when given the chance by Moore.

Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, told NBC 29 that she felt “a sense of relief” when it was over.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Nina-Alice Antony spoke after the sentencing of the significance of the incident.

“This was an event that impacted not just the Charlottesville community, but it did have ripples throughout the state, throughout the nation, and frankly, throughout the world,” she told NBC 29.

Star Peterson, who suffered two broken legs, a broken rib and an injured spine when Fields smashed his car into the rally, said she was still not over the ugly assault.

“We did not eliminate racism today by convicting James Fields,” she said. “Charlottesville has some deep soul searching to do.”

Hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville in 2017 to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Fields’ attorneys pointed to a history of mental illness and a traumatic childhood during his trial and argued that he was “scared to death” when he sped into the group of counterprotesters.

Jurors heard jailhouse phone calls between Fields and his mother, including one where he referred to Heyer’s mother as a “communist” and “one of those anti-white supremacists.” Prosecutors also showed the jury a text message sent by Fields that included an image of Hitler.

President Trump caused widespread controversy after the 2017 rally when he blamed “both sides” for the violence.