Miguel Padilla Sentenced for Shooting Boy In Parking Space Fight Updated January 24, 2012 5:35pm

MIguel Padilla got 17 years in prison for shooting a 13-year-old boy in East Harlem in a dispute over a parking spot, authorities said. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

MANHATTAN — A Bronx man was sentenced to 17 years in prison Tuesday for shooting a 13-year-old boy in a dispute over a parking spot in East Harlem last January, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.

Miguel Padilla, 45, opened fire on East 107th Street, near Fifth Avenue, aiming at a man driving a Chevrolet Impala with his wife and 4-year-old child inside.

Padilla missed, but a bullet smashed through the window of a nearby car and grazed the head of the victim, who was sitting inside, the D.A.'s office said.

The boy was treated and released from the hospital, and has since made a full recovery.

Padilla, whose criminal history includes prison terms for assault, drugs and weapons possession, was arrested soon afterward. On Jan. 11, more than a year after the shooting, Padilla pleaded guilty to attempted murder, assault and attempted assault.

"Today's sentencing ensures that a violent and reckless criminal will be off New York City streets," District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement. "To fire a gun several times into a car filled with people is to act with utter disregard for human life. What started as a petty argument over a parking space could have resulted in tragedy."

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