NJ woman who fractured teen's skull in hit-run gets no prison

A Point Pleasant woman who almost killed a teenage girl two summers ago in a hit-and-run crash will not be going to either prison or county jail after taking a plea deal.

Brittany Keifer, 27, was sentenced Friday to three years of probation with 50 hours of community service. She also will lose her driver's license for a year and will pay a $2,500 fine.

Prosecutors had urged Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels to sentence Keifer to a year in county jail — a sentence that supporters of the seriously injured girl still believed was too lenient.

Emma-Mae, the girl struck by a hit-and-run driver in Point Pleasant (Submitted by the family)

At about 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2018, Kiefer ran over a 14-year-old girl who was riding her bicycle on Route 88 in Point Pleasant.

Authorities said the girl landed on the windshield of Kiefer's BMW, which Kiefer continued to drive for several yards before the girl rolled off the car. Instead of stopping to help the girl or call an ambulance, Kiefer drove away and called 29-year-old Kyle Ramos to pick her up a few blocks away and help her hide her car.

The Seaside Heights man attempted to have Kiefer's car repaired but turned himself into police the next day. He has pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and awaits sentencing.

Kyle Ramos pleaded guilty to trying to cover up a hit-and-run crash. (Ocean County Prosecutor's Office)

The girl — Emma-Mae Gnolfo — spent weeks at hospitals to receive treatment for a concussion, brain bleeding and a fractured skull.

A petition circulated before the sentencing urged the judge to hand down a harsher sentence.

"They deserve the maximum sentence and not just probation like they think they deserve," the Change.org petition with more than 3,000 signatures says. "Let’s show them that it’s not okay to leave a child to die on the side of the road in a pool of her own blood. These two need to be made an example of and show that something like this will not just be a slap on the wrist."

Keifer had been charged with fourth-degree assault by auto and third-degree leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury, crimes that don't necessarily result in prison sentences for first-time offenders. She pleaded guilty to the third-degree crime as well as leaving the scene of an accident, which is considered a motor vehicle violation.