Mother of O.C. freeway shooter acquitted of hit-and-run
The mother of a carjacker who went on a killing rampage as he sped across the freeways of Orange County this past spring has been acquitted in her own criminal case.
Sarwat Syed, 43, was accused of causing an accident that injured a mother and her two young children and then fleeing the scene without offering to help the victims.
But jurors on Friday acquitted the woman of felony hit-and-run driving in the 2011 incident, the Orange County Register reported.
Syed was facing four years in state prison.
The woman’s son, Ali Syed, dominated headlines in February when he went on a violent rampage that left three people dead. The 20-year-old eventually jumped out of the car and shot himself to death after pulling off a freeway in Orange.
His mother’s situation unfolded in June 2011 while she was driving her SUV on the 405 Freeway near Irvine Center Drive in Irvine. Officials said her car slammed into the side of a Honda Accord carrying three passengers, a woman and her 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
The collision caused the family’s vehicle to spin off the road, but instead of stopping to help, Syed sped away, officials said.
Syed’s attorney, however, told jurors that the driver of the other car caused the collision and that Syed pulled to the side of the freeway, unaware the other car had gone off the road. Syed believed she had been the victim of a hit-and-run, the Register reported.
The 4-year-old girl injured in the crash eventually underwent four surgeries to repair her jaw, eye sockets and nose.
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