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Man to serve over 2 years behind bars for hit-and-run that killed teen

Posted at 3:03 PM, Mar 12, 2013
and last updated 2013-03-12 18:16:31-04

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) -- A 33-year-old Chesterfield man has been sentenced for a hit-and-run that killed an 18-year-old woman last May.

Reginald K. Addo was convicted in January of felony hit-and-run after the death of Kara Lengyel-Rivers. He was also convicted of driving with a revoked license.

A judge sentenced Addo to 10 years in prison with with 7-and-a-half years suspended for the felony hit and run charge. He was also sentenced to 12 months, with 8 months suspended, for the driving on a suspended license

With some of his sentence suspended and credit for time served, Addo will service 2 years and 3 months behind bars with credit for time served.

The judge went above the maximum sentencing guidelines, which would have given Addo a little over a year in prison.

Police said that Addo was driving along Patterson Avenue near Pump Road around 11 p.m. when he struck a pedestrian and drove off on May 29, 2012.

Lengyel-Rivers was pronounced dead at the scene. Police tracked down Addo, not too far from the scene, and arrested him.

Addo claimed a bug flew in to his eye causing him to swerve and hit something, but said he didn’t realize it was a person.

Outside court, CBS 6 News talked to Kara's father. He said he and his daughter were starting to reconnect just before she was killed.

"What better way to connect with my daughter than through art. Both of us had a passion for it -- and that's been taken away. It's gone," Jim Lengyel said.

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