Yelena Krupen sentenced, Santa Monica Bike Action Plan, Cat pounces printer
December 8th, 2010 
9 Comments
By Mihai Peteu
Santa Monica Spoke invites those that ride, patronize businesses, live, or play in Santa Monica to give input at a city-sponsored community meeting this Sunday, 5pm, at 502 Colorado Ave, 90401. Things are definitely picking up steam in SM and this is a good chance to help draw up a new Bicycle Action Plan for the city.
And if Alex Thompson wasn’t so busy taking over the world, he’d want you to see this:
Krupen was charged with a Hit and run involving property damage for colliding with Brandon Chau in Beverly Hills last year. The second charge was driving with a suspended license – that was dropped. She been sentenced to 36 months summary probation, $354.77 restitution to the victim, and 15 days of jail time.
Santa Monica Spoke invites those that ride, patronize businesses, live, or play in Santa Monica to give input at a city-sponsored community meeting this Sunday, 5pm, at 502 Colorado Ave, 90401. Things are definitely picking up steam in SM and this is a good chance to help draw up a new Bicycle Action Plan for the city.
And if Alex Thompson wasn’t so busy taking over the world, he’d want you to see this:
Author Info
Good. Justice is served. Had she not run off then she wouldn’t have any problems what so ever. So tough tits. She will get a book and release most likely because of overcrowding but at least it’s on her record and next time maybe this asshole will think twice about running. Fair warning to all you would be hit and run drivers. Cyclists are a nutty energetic resourceful obsessive tech saavy bunch. You will be hunted. Forever.
I only wish that Judges would be consistent with their sentencing. Judge Fox didn’t give one day of time to the drunk girl who maimed Birdman for life. Glenn Gritzner only got $500 fine for his hit and run conviction…. The woman in the Ed Magos case got 90 days. And ALL are still driving. Our justice system needs an enima. A jaywalking ticket is 191 dollars. Do the math.
Agreed that the inconsistency is maddening. CA desperately needs minimum penalties wrt hit and run. And license suspension is just a no brainer.
Well, her attorney did her no favors. I was a bystander when he approached the victim with an offer of a few hundred dollars and a hard luck story about his client – how she’s already paid in tears, etc. All without really acknowledging the victim at all. After ten minutes of his spin, I told him that it sounded like his client has had a rough time of it… that I sympathize. He saw the sarcasm.
I had the good fortune of being personally acquainted for a time with his client when she lived in my apartment building. There’s a reason why she didn’t appear for pre-trial settlement discussions that day: she wouldn’t look very sympathetic to a guy whom she’d run down. She’s straight-up Beverly Hills. High-gloss edition.
While I can’t be objective about the sentence, I think that we can say justice has been served, and that we all owe Brandon Chau some gratitude for seeing it through. Many folks would have sensed the attorney’s desperation (despite the lowball offer) and reached for his intestines by way of settlement. Brandon chose to take a higher road. And good for him.
Humorous (not really) addendum: After the defendant moved out of her apartment, another young woman took it, fresh off a conviction for DUI hit-and-run. She had mowed down a pedestrian in a crosswalk in SM and took off. Talk about a star-crossed apartment.
Wow. The chance of that happening…
Hopefully her sentence knocks some sense into her. However, license suspension should be mandatory in any hit-and-run. It’s like handing back a weapon to someone and saying “here, try again”.
She so deserves it!, enough of the Beverly Hills airheads getting away with stuff. The interesting thing is that she sounded almost proud of “totaling her car” as she said before being part of the race car show Bullrun…not so funny now huh?, with a DUI and now this, she deserves it!
Never heard of Bullrun until now. Had to look it up:
“Bullrun is a reality television show where 12 teams compete in a 4,100 mile road race”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullrun
Yelena never looked better than in that photo. Reality shows generate a certain kind of notoriety, but we never take too close a look at the desperate climb to the C-list celebrity pinnacle. Now we know it may include a conviction and jail time as it does in her case. Perhaps the prosecutor should have introduced Bullrun as evidence in the case…for her overall bad judgment if not for her history of reckless driving. The tenant who took her place and also was convicted of hit-and-run was a bit of a tart too.
She deserves all of it plus more. Justice has been dished. I really don’t think she’s learned her lesson despite this though, for which I pity her.
Wow, so glad to see Brandon stuck with it. Many months ago I crossed paths with him on 4th Street and asked him how the case was proceeding. He was very down about it, wanted to stick with it and see it through, but was clearly exhausted from the whole process. I commend him for sticking to it even though it took so long to resolve. We have to show criminal drivers that we won’t just let them get away with it. Twenty-five days isn’t much, but like a previous poster said, it’s on her record now. And maybe it’s not just about showing the bad drivers that we won’t take it, but also about showing the courts and judges that they need to take us seriously? Of course I would prefer a revoked license, but just so glad Brandon saw it through.