By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A career criminal who hit a police officer and a pedestrian while fleeing the scene of a botched identification-theft scam in SoHo was sentenced to at least nine years in prison Wednesday.
Shauna King, 33, and an accomplice tried to use a stolen credit card and a fake driver's license at the True Religion jean shop on Prince Street on July 6, 2007. When the scam failed, and officers arrived, King took off in a Nissan Altima, leaving her partner behind, prosecutors said.
King, a five-time felon, was convicted in January of recklessly speeding into people and traffic, hitting a police officer and a Chinese tourist. The officer broke his elbow. The tourist lost two front teeth and suffered back injuries, prosecutors said.
At her sentencing Wednesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Ronald Zweibel said he was not convinced by King's claim she suffered from various mental illnesses, which she blamed for her behavior.
"I find that you are a menace to society and need to be sentenced away for an very extensive period of time in order to ensure that society remains safe," Zweibel said.
The police officer could have died had he not dodged King's car, the judge said.
"Fortunately he was able to [react] quick enough so he wasn't hit head on," Zweibel said. "Otherwise this could have been a homicide."
King asked for mercy and said she did not intend to injure the victims.
"I am not a violent person. I would never be," she said.
Her accomplice, Francis Channell, pleaded guilty to identity theft and possession of a forged instrument. She was sentenced to two years in jail in 2008.
