Girl on tricycle dies in hit

A girl riding on a tricycle died in a hit-and-run crash days before her fourth birthday, North Carolina officials said.

Now, the man accused of being behind the wheel of the SUV that struck her has been sentenced to prison. Prosecutors in a May 10 news release didn't share attorney information for the man, identified as 32-year-old Aaron Santos-Pinzon.

The case dates to August 2021, when officials said the girl was riding her tricycle in the mountain town of Flat Rock. She was in a cul-de-sac outside her home when the driver of an "SUV backed out of a neighboring driveway and tragically struck and killed the toddler," according to North Carolina's Prosecutorial District 42.

The deceased child was identified as 3-year-old Andi Lynn Blair. She died days before she would have turned 4, the Henderson County Sheriff's Office told McClatchy News at the time.

The driver is accused of leaving the scene before a description of the SUV led troopers to Santos-Pinzon. He was stopped close to the South Carolina border and had a blood alcohol level of 0.10, over the legal driving limit of 0.08, the district attorney's office said.

"Santos-Pinzon was found to be displaying signs of appreciable impairment with a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, slurred speech, unsteadiness on his feet, and glassy eyes," prosecutors wrote. "Santos-Pinzon admitted previously drinking alcoholic beverages."

He initially was charged with driving while intoxicated, "felony death by vehicle" and "felony hit and run causing death." Then on May 5, a judge sentenced him to prison on the latter two charges.

Santos-Pinzon, who is from Mexico, has been ordered to serve at least eight years behind bars. He lived in Flat Rock but was found to have been in the United States illegally, officials said.

"Santos-Pinzon has an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer on him and will presumably be repatriated to his country of origin upon completion of his North Carolina sentence," prosecutors wrote.

The district attorney's office, which didn't say whether Santos-Pinzon entered a plea in the case or whether he was believed to be intoxicated at the time of the crash, didn't immediately share those details with McClatchy News on May 10. Henderson County deputies initially identified the suspect as Aaron Santiso.

Flat Rock is roughly 30 miles south of Asheville.

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