Driver who struck and killed 2 kids near school pleads guilty to lesser charges

A woman who struck and killed two children with a van outside an elementary school in Prince George’s County agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors and faces much less jail time than under the original charges.

Sky Sosa, 5, and Shalom Mbah, 10, were walking to school in a crosswalk outside Riverdale Elementary School when they were struck and killed in November 2023.

Olga Lugo Jiminez was indicted on multiple charges, including two counts of criminally negligent manslaughter, which would have carried a total of six years in prison. But Lugo Jiminez pleaded guilty to lesser offenses — two counts of driving a vehicle into a crosswalk and contributing to an accident. Instead of six years, she faces four months of jail time.

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy released a statement saying, in part, “The statute under which Lugo Jiminez pled guilty was designed to punish the specific wrongful conduct of causing harm by entering a crosswalk. In this case, the harm was devastating, and our office determined that punishment was warranted — even absent of evidence of any other criminally negligent conduct, such as speeding, intoxication or traffic signal violations.”

News4 was not able to locate the children’s relatives for comment, but the Mbah family told the Washington Post the plea sends the message that negligent driving is not taken seriously, even when children die.

Lugo Jiminez was driving for a private van service and had just dropped kids off at the school, investigators have said. She was turning to leave when she allegedly hit the children.

Lugo Jiminez was indicted in June, several months after the crash.

Sky’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the van driver, the van owner, the board of education and the county, claiming negligence.

There was no crossing guard there to help children the morning of the crash.

Shalom’s family filed a separate lawsuit.

A judge will decide how much, if any, jail time the Lugo Jiminez will get at sentencing in July.

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