Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge Reggie E. McKnight sentenced Q’Laundra Kadri Hood on September 22 after she pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run involving serious injury or death and misdemeanor death by vehicle in the death of Lance Andreas Jesus Sotelo.
Court-record-based reporting says McKnight imposed a prison term of 16 to 29 months but suspended it. Hood was instead placed on 36 months of supervised probation and ordered to serve 30 days in the Mecklenburg County jail as a condition of that probation. Qnotes reported that she was also ordered to pay $765 in restitution.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Hood ran a red light at The Plaza and East 36th Street at about 5:45 p.m. on January 14 and struck Sotelo while he was running. First responders found the 25-year-old severely injured in the roadway and pronounced him dead at the scene. Hood left before police arrived and turned herself in early the next morning, according to a probable-cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime.
Sotelo graduated from Queens University of Charlotte, where he competed in cross-country and track and field and served as student body president. His mother told the sentencing court that she forgave Hood but could not forget what happened, and said she wanted rehabilitation as well as accountability.
