CLEVELAND — A man who pleaded guilty last month for causing the death of a 35-year-old woman on Christmas day when he hit her with a car last year has been sentenced to nearly a decade in prison.
According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, Edwin Valentin, 25, previously pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident and attempted tampering with evidence.
On Dec. 25, 2019, Melanie Phillips was dropped off in front of her home on West 52nd Street in Cleveland by her aunt. Phillips was standing on the sidewalk while grabbing her belongings out of her aunt’s trunk when she was struck by a car.
Valentin was driving on West 52nd Street when he swerved off the road, smashed into a utility pole, hit a tree, struck Phillips, and dragged her across the driveway before striking another utility pole and driving away, authorities said.
Phillips was transported to a nearby hospital where she died from her injuries five days later.
Valentin was arrested the day after the crash after video surveillance and a license plate left at the scene led police to identify him as the driver.
Valentin will serve nine years and six months at the Lorain Correction Institution.
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