The driver who killed a 27-year-old woman in an Ocean Beach hit-and-run was sentenced to three years of probation and 15 days of community service Wednesday, avoiding jail time.
Zaid Naoom, 23, stood silently with his hands crossed in court as he learned his sentence. He often turned his head to the ground, even when the mother of victim Amber Schei demanded he look at her when she spoke.
Schei’s family begged the judge to give the defendant to at least one year in prison, calling the sentence insulting. They said it sets a bad example for drivers responsible for hit-and-runs.
“No Zaid, she was not a mistake one night. She was not just trouble. She’s not just an insurance claim,” said Schei’s mother Tammy Wilson. “She was my daughter, my love, my life."
In June 2014, Naoom hit Schei as she was skateboarding on Nimitz Boulevard early in the morning. Naoom told the court Wednesday that when he struck her, he knew he had hit something significant but decided to drive away anyway, leaving her to die on the side of the road.
Four days later, he contacted a lawyer and turned himself in.
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“The other thing that was failed to be mentioned here was that Amber, at the time of the collision, had methamphetamines in her system, amphetamines in her system and marijuana in her system,” said Naoom’s defense attorney, Richard Katzman.
He said a police report listed Schei as the primary cause of the crash, since she was also skateboarding in the middle of the night, jay walking and wearing dark clothing.
Drug residue was also found in Naoom’s car.
“I forgive you for hitting her, but I don’t forgive you for running,” said Todd Schei, the victim’s father. “You should have been a man and stayed there, at least been there to not let her die alone.”
Wilson, a military veteran, told NBC 7 last year that her daughter moved to San Diego to study computer engineering and be closer to her daughter, who is now 11 years old. The girl is now being raised by her grandparents.
Before her death, Schei had dropped out of school and was living in a sort of group home, her mother said.
