LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A 52-year-old Los Angeles Unified School District teacher was scheduled to be arraigned today on a hit-and-run charge for allegedly striking and severely injuring a bicyclist with her Mini Cooper in Silver Lake and leaving the scene.
Molly Jane Hoene of Silver Lake was arrested Nov. 26 at the Silver Sands Racquet Club in Palm Desert in Riverside County, where she was staying with family, according to the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Traffic Division.
The victim, a homeless man, was struck about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 25 in the 3000 block of Berkeley Avenue, near Silver Lake Boulevard, and suffered a broken leg, broken arm and fractured spine, according to the LAPD.
The damaged Mini Cooper was later towed to the Route 66 Collision Center at 6820 San Fernando Road in Glendale, prompting a call to authorities by the owner of the shop, who had seen reports about the crash on television, police said.
The LAPD reported earlier that the owner of the car was refusing to cooperate with investigators.
On Nov. 19, investigators presented their case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which charged Hoene with one count of felony hit and run with severe bodily injury, police said.
“Hoene is employed with the LAUSD as a teacher and she is currently assigned to ... (district) ... headquarters,” police said.
Hoene's attorney told KNX Newsradio that his client would plead not guilty “and the facts as known to the police will show she is not guilty of this crime.”
Hoene was removed from the classroom at Ivanhoe Elementary School in Silver Lake, where she was listed in a directory as a fifth-grade teacher, when she became a person of interest in the case, according to media reports.