Fort Lauderdale

Woman Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison in Las Olas Boulevard Deadly Hit-and-Run

What to Know

  • A driver fled the scene after hitting and killing Miguel Soler on July 1, 2017 on Los Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
  • Regina Goodrich, 25, was charged with the crime and apologized to Soler's family during her sentencing hearing on Monday.

A woman who left the scene of a crash that killed a tourist last year in Fort Lauderdale was sentenced Monday to six years in prison.

Regina Goodrich, 25, of Coral Springs, was sentenced in the hit-and-run crash that killed 58-year-old Miguel Soler.

Soler was with his wife visiting from New Jersey on July 1, 2017, when he was hit after taking a photo on a bridge on Las Olas Boulevard. The driver hit Soler and kept going, police said. Authorities later found an abandoned SUV.

Goodrich turned herself in hours after the crash. 

On Monday, Goodrich took the stand and admitted to the court that she hit Soler and had two beers with friends hours before the crash. Surveillance videos shown in court showed Soler around the time he was hit, and videos posted on Instagram showed Goodrich drinking before Soler was killed.

"I think back to that day and regret leaving, I think back and wish it never happened," Goodrich said in court. "The shame and guilt will never leave me. At the time of the accident, I had no idea I had hurt someone."

She pleaded no contest to one charge of leaving the scene of a deadly crash, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in jail.

The courtroom was packed with people testifying on behalf of Goodrich, including family, friends and her high school principal.

"She has been absolutely torn apart by this, specifically our convos have been that she's deeply troubled by the pain it's caused our family and their family and everyone else," said her brother, Patrick Lee Goodrich.

Goodrich's father, Michael Goodrich, cried through his testimony and read a letter to the Soler family. He said his father died in a car accident at roughly the same age.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," he said.

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