OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman has been given nine months in jail for misdemeanor vehicular homicide.
Online court records say 41-year-old Lawanda Cook was sentenced Thursday in Douglas County Court. She’d pleaded no contest and was convicted on May 28.
Cook was charged after the Jan. 18 death of 55-year-old Joanne Smith. Police say Smith was struck by Cook’s car as Smith was unloading items from the trunk of her car. Smith’s legs were severed, and she died four days after the accident.
Police say Cook reported that she got distracted when her cellphone fell to the floor of her car.