Boulder Woman Sentenced For Deadly Crash

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- The Boulder woman who tried to swim away from a deadly accident was sentenced to prison on Friday.

A judge at the Boulder County Justice Center sentenced Lisa Norton to 33 years in prison.

Norton had previously pleaded guilty to driving drunk in June 2011 when she lost control of her pickup truck and crashed into a car. She also pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in exchange for prosecutors dropping a murder charge.

Norton admitted to crashing into Gabriel Nielsen's Nissan near Boulder. Nielsen died at the scene near the Clover Basin Reservoir. His then 2-year-old daughter and sister were seriously injured in the crash.

Norton jumped into a drainage basin and tried to swim away to avoid being arrested.

Friday's sentencing offered little comfort to family members who mourn the loss of Gabriel and deal with the injuries his daughter is struggling to recover from.

"The whole year has been no good. It's tough, you know. The suffering has been unbelieveable," said Gabriel's father Martin Nielsen.

The little girl suffers from a traumatic brain injury and she must wear a helmet and struggles to walk.