Distracted driver sentenced to 7 1/2 years in fatal crash

FLORENCE, Ky. – A driver who admitted using her cellphone when she struck and killed two toddlers and their grandfather in Kentucky has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Media report Boone County Circuit Court Judge James R. Schrand sentenced Jessica Hood on Monday. Hood was accused of killing 49-year-old Charles Napier and his twin 13-month-old grandchildren as he pulled them in a wagon in Florence.

Hood pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter and assault in the 2015 crash that also injured the toddlers’ mother and another child. She told the court she was looking at her cellphone while trying to plug in an auxiliary cord and change the music player from a CD to her cellphone.

Hood apologized in court, saying she wished she could take back her actions.