26-year-old Lawrence woman to stand trial in February hit-and-run dispute

When police found the 26-year-old Lawrence woman who allegedly struck her boyfriend with his vehicle during a dispute last month, she too bore noticeable injuries, according to an officer’s testimony Wednesday.

Georgianna Aguilar, 26, will stand trial in May on felony charges of aggravated battery and leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm. She pleaded not guilty to both charges in Douglas County District Court Wednesday after a judge bound her over for trial.

In jail on a $20,000 bond, Aguilar wiped away tears as Lawrence police officer Nicholas Simon recounted an hourslong interview conducted with her on Feb. 17. Aguilar was later arrested after questioning that afternoon in connection with the incident involving Ryan Ingram, with whom Aguilar shared a home.

Simon testified Wednesday that Aguilar told him she, Ingram and three other friends had been drinking that morning before an argument between her and Ingram ensued as he drove her and two of their friends in his Ford Excursion.

The argument, she told Simon, concerned Ingram wanting to purchase more alcohol and Aguilar disagreeing. Eventually, Aguilar told Simon, Ingram instructed their two friends to leave the vehicle “if they didn’t want to get beat up like she was about to get beat up,” Simon testified.

According to testimony, Ingram backhanded Aguilar and, as she described, began “hammer-fisting” her with both hands. To describe this in court Wednesday, Simon balled both hands into fists and began pummeling the air in a downward motion. Eventually, Simon said, Aguilar described opening the passenger-side door and beckoning Ingram to come around and hit her again; as he made his way around the front of the SUV, Aguilar told Simon she took the wheel and drove off.

She wasn’t sure if she struck Ingram, Simon said, but she saw him on the ground while a bystander tended to his head. When Simon found Ingram’s vehicle near an apartment at which Aguilar was also found, it had damage to its mirror and windshield. Aguilar also was hurt. “I could immediately tell she was injured,” Simon said. He described lacerations to her head and bruises “all over her body.” And when she spoke, Simon said, he noticed a tooth “broken in half.”

On Wednesday, Aguilar’s attorney, Napoleon Crews, requested a reduction in bond from $20,000 to $5,000, but prosecutors said Aguilar had eight failures to appear in court since 2008 and District Judge Kay Huff kept the bond as is.