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January 05, 2007
Man gets 3 years for hit-and-run

9-year-old boy on bicycle severely injured

By DENNIS HUSPENI THE GAZETTE

The 9-year-old boy with a wide, white scar slashing through his black hair from the top of his head to his ear sat in the courtroom while the man who ran him over and left him for dead was sentenced Thursday to the maximum prison term.

Edwin Nuevo underwent brain surgery and spent months in the hospital recovering from the hit-and-run collision Aug. 5 near Academy Boulevard and Airport Road.

Nuevo was riding his bicycle when he was struck, then dragged about 30 feet under the Ford Explorer driven by Ruben Vielmas, 24.

Even after Vielmas knew the boy had been hit, he drove about 300 feet, the bike still lodged
under the chassis, before neighbors stopped him and brought him back to the scene.

Vielmas pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident causing serious bodily injury.

Fourth Judicial District Judge David Shakes could have sentenced him to as little as probation, but he chose the maximum three-year sentence after hearing Edwin’s tearful mother, Monica Nuevo, explain all that she and her son have endured since the collision.

At first, doctors told her Edwin would not survive and she said she would donate his organs.

The doctors called it a miracle he lived, she said.

“Before this . . . he was a very helpful kid,” she said.

Now, Nuevo must help him dress and deal with his severe mood swings and bouts of extreme anger. He’s regressed mentally from a fourth-grader to a second-grader and no longer speaks.

It’s unclear whether he’ll regain the ability to speak normally.

“He won’t be able to play sports, ever,” she said. “He will be like this forever because of all the injuries he suffered.”

Vielmas’ attorney, public defender Eydie Elkins, emphasized that he was being sentenced for leaving the crash, not for causing Edwin’s injuries.

“This was an accident,” she said. “He will suffer the consequences of these guilty feelings for the rest of his life.”

Vielmas apologized to Monica Nuevo.

“There’s no way I can forget this,” he said. “I just hope she can forgive me one day.”

“You left a young boy with a potential permanent disability,” Shakes said. “I find it very disturbing that not only did you not stop immediately, you engaged in significant conduct to attempt to leave the scene, knowing that little boy’s body was in the street.”

Shakes urged Vielmas to take a long look at the boy, who was sitting on Deputy District Attorney Holly Dodge’s lap, and “thank God he’s alive.”

Vielmas, an illegal immigrant, did not look at Edwin as he left the courtroom, handcuffed and escorted by an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy.

Illegal immigrants are deported after serving prison sentences for felony convictions, according to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0110 or

dennis.huspeni@gazette.com