Los Osos teen sentenced to seven years in prison

April 19, 2018

A San Luis Obispo County judge sentenced a Los Osos teen to seven years in prison for a DUI hit-and-run crash that killed a 22-year-old Cal Poly student. [Cal Coast Times]

At about 11 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2017, a vehicle Gianna Brencola was driving struck the bicycle of Kennedy Love on Foothill Boulevard near Ferrini Road in San Luis Obispo. Following the collision, Brencola and a female passenger fled the scene while Love’s body was lying in the street.

Officers arrived shortly afterwards and found Love’s body still lying in the roadway. Later, police found Brencola’s abandoned vehicle and then located the teen at her Los Osos home, where she admitted to drinking and driving and causing the fatal crash, according to the San Luis Obispo Police Department. Her blood alcohol level was reportedly .15 hours after the collision.

Brencola, now 18, was 17 years old at the time of the crash. However, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted her as an adult.

Recently, Brencola pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run causing death. On Wednesday, Judge Craig Van Rooyen sentenced Brencola to seven years in state prison.

Brencola faced a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.