UPDATE: On Monday, February 26, 2018, the Oregon Senate passed Abigail and Anna’s Law (HB 4055) by unanimous 27-0 vote. The bill moves next to the Oregon House for a procedural vote and is then expected to go to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.
Oregon Senate Democrats: Duties of hit-and-run drivers need to be redefined.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, February 6, 2018, Washington County Senior Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey joined the parents of Abigail Robinson, 11, and Anna Dieter-Eckherdt, 6, in testifying before the Oregon House Judiciary Committee in support of “Abigail and Anna's Law.” The law, designed to close a gap in Oregon’s “Hit and Run” statute, was drafted in response to an appeals court decision overturning the criminal conviction of the driver that killed Abigail and Anna in 2013. The driver, Cinthya Garcia-Cisneros, learned she had struck the girls within a few minutes of the collision, but failed to come forward or return to the scene.
Portland Tribune: Forest Grove Parents Seek Changes to Hit-And-Run Law
McKey explained that under the Court of Appeals decision a driver who learns he or she has caused a serious injury only moments after the collision has no responsibility to stop, assist, call 911, or render aid. The changes in HB 4055 would help protect the most vulnerable people on our roads, including children.
Tom Robinson and Susan Dieter-Robinson, Abigail and Anna’s parents, helped the committee understand their loss and the effect of years spent reliving the tragedy. “My ask for all of you today is to consider what the right thing to do is after finding out you were involved in an accident, and in that, consider closing the loophole in the current law” Mrs. Dieter-Robinson said. In making this change someone in the future, already trying to survive a perfect storm, will not be faced with what we have gone through the past four years…If the law changes our girls will have had a small piece of making that happen and that will make us very proud. I can’t go watch Abigail on the stage and I can’t watch Anna ride her big horse Teva anymore, but what I could say is that my girls helped change a law that was broken.
ORIGINAL POST: This week the Oregon Legislature will begin hearings on a bill to designed to fix Oregon’s “Hit and Run” statute, which sets the obligations of a driver who has been involved in an accident. The bill comes in response to an Oregon Court of Appeals decision overturning the conviction of a driver that killed two young girls in Forest Grove in 2013.
Cinthya Garcia-Cisneros struck and killed stepsisters Abigail Robinson, 11, and Anna Dieter-Eckherdt, 6, as they lay in a leaf pile in the street in front of their home. At trial the evidence proved Garcia-Cisneros knew within minutes that she had struck the children but she failed to come forward or return to the scene. A Washington County jury unanimously voted to convict Garcia-Cisneros of “hit and run” in 2014, only to have the conviction reversed by the Court of Appeals three years later. The Court found that Oregon’s law only applies to drivers who know of injury or damage at the time of the collision, and not to someone who leaves the scene and learns of it later.
The Washington County DA’s Office joins with the family of Anna and Abigail in strongly supporting Rep. Olson and Rep. Jeff Barker in the effort to close this loophole in the law. The House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing on HB 4055 at 1:00pm on Tuesday, February 6, 2018, at the Oregon State Capital.
