Jury Awards $7.6M to Family of West Virginia Pedestrian Killed in Hit-And-Run

A West Virginia man has been ordered to pay $7.6 million in damages to the family of a pedestrian who was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

The Dominion Post reports the Monongalia County Circuit Court jury issued the verdict Thursday in a civil lawsuit filed by Carli Sears’ family against 22-year-old Alexander Hambrick of Winfield.

Authorities say Hambrick was drunk in January 2016 when he drove his pickup truck on a Morgantown sidewalk, killing Sears.

The 20-year-old Sears was a Charleston resident who attended the University of Mississippi. She was in Morgantown visiting friends.

Hambrick previously pleaded guilty to driving under the influence with death and leaving the scene of an accident with death. A judge suspended a sentence and ordered Hambrick to report to a regional jail before being sent to a correctional center for young adults.