VAN NUYS : Woman Pleads Guilty in Accident Involving Children

A North Hollywood woman whose 2-year-old son knocked her idling car into gear, causing it to run over five children in her driveway, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor child-endangerment charge and was sentenced to 24 months’ probation and 150 hours of community service.

Estela Lopez, 33, entered her plea in Van Nuys Municipal Court as part of an agreement with prosecutors. She originally had been charged with two child-endangerment counts in connection with the freak accident and, if convicted, faced up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Four of the neighborhood children, ages 5 to 10, were hospitalized in serious or critical condition July 30 after the car struck a sofa on which they were playing, driving it into a wall.

Police said witnesses told them that Lopez left her child in the car with the engine running while she ran inside the house to get her purse. Lopez maintained that her son somehow opened the car door and climbed in on his own.

Initially, the district attorney’s office declined to file charges. Later, however, the city attorney’s office decided to file the misdemeanor charges, questioning Lopez’s account of what happened.