Teen who ran over school employee with parents’ Mercedes will spend time behind bars

A Newbury Park teen who ran over a school employee while leaving his high school must spend as much as a year behind bars, a Ventura County Superior Court judge has ruled.

The 16-year-old, whom prosecutors declined to name because he is a minor, admitted in May to purposefully running over and causing great bodily injury to Lisa Solis, an employee at Thousand Oaks High School. A judge Friday ordered that he spend 11 months in a juvenile detention facility before his behavior is evaluated, said Maureen Byrne, a Ventura County prosecutor.

If the teen behaves well, he may be eligible to spend the remaining month of his sentence under house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet. He then would be evaluated again, Byrne said.

The assault happened the evening of Feb. 8 in the parking lot of the high school. According to prosecutors, the teenager had just stolen something from a school concession stand and was trying to escape. He got into his parents’ white Mercedes-Benz and stopped in a driveway to let four friends get into the car, Byrne said.

Solis tried to stop the teen by standing in front of the vehicle.

“The minor just ran her over and did not stop and left the scene,” Byrne said.

He then dropped off his friends before driving home, where he was arrested, she said.

Solis appeared in court Friday to address the judge and the teenager who ran her over. Sitting in a wheelchair with slightly slurred speech, she said she has problems with balance, suffers from vertigo, and that the left side of her head and chest remain numb, according to the Thousand Oaks Acorn.

“When you decided to hit the gas and just run me down, what was going through your mind?” she asked the teen, according to the Acorn. “When I hit the hood of your car, why didn’t you stop then?”

The boy also gave a statement. “I’ll never be able to put in words how truly sorry I am,” he said, according to the Acorn.

Byrne said she is happy with the judge’s order and that the teenager chose to forgo trial by admitting guilt.

“It’s the right thing to do,” she said.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra