A Canyon Country man was sentenced to 10 years in state prison today for hitting 53-year-old bicyclist, Rod Bennett, with his car and then fleeing the scene of the crash, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
Lucas James Guidroz, 28, appeared Monday in San Fernando Superior Court where he was sentenced.
Guidroz pleaded no contest on Oct. 4 to one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run driving resulting in death, Deputy District Attorney Susu Scott said Monday afternoon.
The defendant struck Roderick T. Bennett with his car as Bennett rode a bicycle on Placerita Canyon Road in Santa Clarita on May 25, the prosecutor said.
Bennett had been riding his bicycle late in the afternoon when he was hit from the rear by a car, whose driver then fled the scene.
Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station had been searching for two days for the driver of the car that hit and killed Bennett, a math and music teacher at Arroyo Seco Junior High School.
Guidroz was arrested after he turned himself in to deputies May 27.
Bennett died as a result of his injuries.
The case was investigated by the California Highway Patrol, Newhall Station.
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