photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Lasean Dixon, left, appears with her attorney, Jessica Glendening, on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A woman who was critically injured and whose dog was killed by a hit-and-run driver last year told a Douglas County judge on Friday that she hoped the driver would be treated with compassion as she completes her court-ordered probation.

The woman said that the driver, 37-year-old Lasean Dixon, wasn’t in “a state of mind” at the time of the accident to take responsibility for what she had done the morning of March 18, 2024, but that compassion could help her learn “to step up” when she causes harm.

The woman acknowledged that she herself had recovered but that it had been a difficult process.

“My legs are healed,” she said. “I’m walking. I’m back to pretty much a normal way of life but this has been a really hard year and a half.”

The woman’s friend, who co-owned the dog, Jackson, said the victim was “a better human being than I am.” She detailed to the court just how grave the injury had been. The victim’s lower leg was basically separated from the upper leg “because the tibial plateau had been sheared off.” She suggested that 60 days in jail as “shock time” for Dixon might be appropriate after her friend had endured such excruciating pain and spent a year of her life in recovery.

“A lot of the stress in this process would not have been there had (Dixon) simply stopped and identified herself as the driver,” the friend said.

She noted that the 12-year-old Jackson had been thrown 40 feet when Dixon hit him with her car and likely died instantly. She said first responders told her that the only reason her friend survived is because Jackson, who weighed 85 pounds, got hit first.

At the scene a firefighter laid his helmet and bunker coat on Jackson’s body to recognize him as a “hero,” she said.

Judge Hanley observed that the victim’s call for compassion was unusual and that Dixon could learn from it.

“There’s not vengeance in those words,” she said, noting that “there’s a lot of vengeance in this courtroom. That’s not what I heard today.”

Dixon pleaded no contest in July to running a red light and crashing into the 74-year-old woman as she walked Jackson near East 23rd Street and Barker Avenue. Dixon then fled the scene and lied to police during the investigation, as the Journal-World has reported. She was convicted of two felonies: leaving the scene of an injury accident and interference with law enforcement. A third felony — aggravated battery — was dropped.

Hanley sentenced Dixon, who has no criminal history, to eight months for leaving the scene and to six months for interference. She then suspended the sentence to 18 months of probation, pursuant to the plea agreement and to state sentencing guidelines.

Hanley, emphasizing accountability, deviated from the plea agreement, though, in two respects: making the terms for the two counts run consecutively, not concurrently, and in ordering Dixon to complete 40 hours of community service. For the latter, she suggested working with an animal welfare organization, but she did not specifically order that.

She also did not order Dixon, a single mother of four, to serve “shock time” or to pay any fees or costs, aside from $50 for Jackson’s cremation.

Dixon said little in court except to apologize to the two women who spoke and to say “I made a mistake.” A written letter of apology was given to the court to review; however, Hanley judged it to be inadequate and ordered that it be redone.

“We can do better than what I’ve read here,” said Hanley, who also told Dixon that her statement to police that Jackson was “just a dog” was concerning.

“This court doesn’t see it that way,” Hanley said, noting that how people regard animals says something about their respect for life generally. Jackson, she said, was a “companion of multiple years” and was “a life that was lost.”