Man gets 6 years for fatally striking woman with SUV in Austin in 2013

A man who drove away after fatally striking a woman with an SUV in the West Side Austin neighborhood in 2013 has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Julio A. Lopez, 29, was convicted of failure to report an accident involving death after a bench trial this summer before Judge Timothy Joseph Joyce, according to Cook County court records.

Lopez left his sister’s home in the early morning hours of Nov. 17, 2013, and was driving home in her SUV when he struck Latasha Amos in an alley in the 1100 block of North Mason Avenue, authorities said at the time.

Lopez got out of the car and saw the 37-year-old Amos lying motionless, but got back in the vehicle, drove around the block, parked and went home, authorities said.

Lopez didn’t notify the police, but at work that day, he told someone he’d hit a woman with his car in an alley and left her there, authorities said.

Amos, a West Side resident, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she died that morning, according to the medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy determined Amos died of multiple injuries from an SUV striking a pedestrian, and her death was ruled a homicide.

Lopez, a West Side resident, was only charged with leaving the scene and failing to report the accident. He allegedly admitted to police that he struck Amos.

Judge Joyce sentenced Lopez to six years on July 27, according to court records. He will receive credit for 91 days served in the Cook County Jail, and must serve two years of supervised release.

Lopez was booked into the Vandalia Correctional Center to begin serving his sentence on Aug. 3, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.