By Alexis Stevens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ROSWELL, Ga. — The 83-year-old woman who struck and killed a kindergarten student with her car is free after serving 76 days of a three-year prison sentence.
Edith Main Anderson of Roswell was sentenced to prison in January after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide in the December 2009 death of Karla Campos, 5, who was leaving a school bus. Anderson entered a guilty plea so the girl’s family would not have to endure a trial, the woman’s attorney said.
Anderson was booked into Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville on Jan. 27 and released April 12, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. No reason for her early release was made available.
The Campos girl, who attended Mountain View Elementary School in east Cobb County, had just stepped off her school bus on Davis Road when she was struck by Anderson, who hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, sending her 1995 Nissan Altima zooming forward. Anderson swerved to the right and lost control of her car, police said. She struck the girl and continued into a grassy area.
The girl died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She had been riding the bus only a few days, following the birth of her younger brother, her mother, Gloria Campos, said.
Anderson was arrested and released hours later on $5,000 bond. She apologized to the Campos family in the courtroom in January.
“I’ve thought over and over and over again what I could have done, what I should have done,” Anderson said. “I just hope the time I spend in jail will give them some measure of comfort and relief. Because of me, her family will suffer the pain of her loss for the rest of their lives.”
Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution