Driver Who Killed 2 Girls at School Is Sentenced

A woman who accidentally drove her car onto a curb in front of an Anaheim elementary school, killing two young girls, was sentenced Tuesday to 120 days in jail and three years’ probation.

Maria Martinez Juarez, who appeared in an Orange County courtroom in Fullerton, also was ordered to give up her driver’s license for three years and pay $300 to two restitution funds for victims. Juarez already has earned 78 days’ credit toward her sentence for time served.

Juarez, 51, recently apologized to the families of the victims, Nidia “Liz” Curiel, 6, of Anaheim, and Bianca Jasmine Perez, 7, of Buena Park. She pleaded guilty this month to two counts of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. She had faced up to a year in jail.

Juarez was picking up her grandchildren from Centralia Elementary School in Anaheim on March 12, 2002, when she lost control of her car. She told police she had mistakenly pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing her car to lurch forward into a crowded pickup and drop-off zone and pin Nidia and Bianca against a wall.

The crash led to safety improvements at the school’s entrance, where parents and neighbors had long complained about dangerous traffic jams before and after school.