Anger In Breckenridge Over Hit & Run Sentence
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (CBS4) - Some people who live in Breckenridge say they are angry about a judge's sentencing decision in a hit-and-run case.
Hallie Schmitt was sentenced to six years of probation on Monday Summit County District Court. Earlier this year she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of leaving the scene after striking and injuring Laura Hamilton with her car the day after Christmas 2014. She was captured a few days later.
"To me it's really kind of unbelievable that someone can just leave someone for dead and kind of get away with it," said Hamilton's boyfriend Noah Brandoi.
Hamilton told CBS4 she doesn't remember being hit by the car on Airport Road. Her friends and emergency crews have had to fill in her missing memories.
"I was hit from the back and it threw me left -- over to the side of the road," she said.
"I would have laid out there for probably 10 more minutes, 20 more minutes. I would have bled to death. I might not have started breathing again."
Brandoi was one of the first people who found Hamilton lying on a snowbank after the crime.
"I thought she was probably dead or in a coma or something. I didn't hear her breathe," he said.
Schmitt could have been sentenced for as much as six years in prison but the judge decided against any prison time.
Hamilton said she is trying to focus on her continued healing process and not the person who hit her or the court outcome.
"It will hurt every day for the rest of my life," Hamilton said.
Schmitt was also arrested for DUI while her hit-and-run case was working its way through the courts. On Monday the judge said he couldn't take the DUI arrest into account with his sentencing decision.
