Driver Gets 3 Years in Hit-Run Death of Boy, 7

A man who killed a 7-year-old boy last year in a hit-and-run accident in Eagle Rock was sentenced to three years in state prison Tuesday after offering his first public apology to the child’s parents.

“I am sincerely sorry,” 22-year-old Duc Quy Trinh said in Superior Court in Los Angeles. “I know monetary compensation will never replace a loved one, nor will all the sorrys I can possibly say ever win your forgiveness.”

Alexander Sanna and his older brother were at a marked crosswalk on Yosemite Drive about 7:20 a.m. Feb. 15, on their way to school. A car sped through the intersection, hitting Alexander. He died an hour later during surgery.

Trinh turned himself in to police that evening after seeing Wanda Sanna, the boy’s mother, on television, pleading for the driver’s surrender. Trinh was arrested and was convicted Nov. 27 of felony hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.

The boy’s parents and an officer who investigated the accident said Trinh never appeared sorry.

“My child practically died in my arms and [Trinh] ran off and left that little boy,” Wanda Sanna said in court. “I never received a letter from him or his family showing any remorse or condolences whatsoever.”

Trinh’s attorney James Cesena, however, insisted that Trinh was sorry.

Trinh “didn’t know what he had done,” Cesena said. “He has difficulty expressing his feelings.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Debra Archuleta said Trinh’s driving record included four traffic citations in less than two years as well as an accident.

Sanna said her son would not have been going to school that day, but he had been sick the day before and had missed a Valentine’s Day party.

“He said, ‘Mommy, I’m OK, I want to go to deliver my little Valentines to my little friends,’ ” Sanna said. Her son was buried with the unopened cards.