Who is Andria Heese? Missouri ex-cop who ran over Gabriella Curry, 4, while reversing car pleads guilty
COLUMBIA, MISSOURI: Former Columbia police officer Andria Heese is now charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2019 death of a four-year-old girl. She pleaded guilty on Tuesday, June 1, to a reduced charge of careless and imprudent driving.
Heese is accused of killing 4-year-old Gabriella Curry in 2019 after her police cruiser hit the child on a sidewalk outside of Battle High School. According to the crash report, Heese was positioning her vehicle on the sidewalk to watch students leaving school for the day when Curry was hit.
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We have reported similar incidents in the past. Last year we reported that a Florida woman accidentally killed a 2-year-old boy while she was reversing her car. In a shocking reveal, it was later found that the little boy's sister had also died similarly four years ago. We also reported another horrific incident where shocking footage from Vietnam showed a driver slamming the brakes moments before he was about to run into a baby who was crawling across the road. The dashcam footage showed the motorist hurtling down the road at 57km/h (35mph). The child appears to be unconcerned by the events.
After the little girl Curry was hit by Heese, school resource officers immediately began administering medical care to the child and "advanced life support" was administered once the ambulance arrived, police said. Curry later died at the hospital. At that time, Heese was working with the department for five years and was assigned to the community outreach unit. She was later placed on administrative leave.
According to Heese's defense attorney Donald Weaver, the state will ask for a sentence of up to 180 days in the Boone County Jail followed by two years of probation. He also stated that the state would not object to Heese being removed from probation after one year if all terms and conditions are met. Heese is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9, 2021. Earlier this year, the former officer's attorneys tried unsuccessfully to have the criminal charge dropped. On July 17, 2020, Boone County Judge Kim Shaw ordered that the case would continue. Columbia's insurer paid the Curry family $3.4M in May 2020 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. The family also received $125,000 from Columbia Public Schools. Heese was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter. She pleaded not guilty to the charge in July 2020.