Ohio man in stolen Kia struck and killed 4-year-old on playground. Now he's going to prison.

The mother of a 4-year-old struck and killed by an SUV, and the mother of its driver wept in a Franklin County courtroom Monday as the judge handed down the sentence in the killing.

Judge Andy Miller ordered Tyrell Shute, 25, of Mansfield, to serve up to 19 1/2 years in prison in the death of Yonis Kabiro Said. Shute pleaded guilty in May to involuntary manslaughter, felony fleeing and receiving stolen property.

Shute will be eligible for early release after serving 14 years of his sentence. His mother cried as Miller rendered his decision.

Yonis' mother, Luley Ramadan Musa, wailed and wept as prosecutors played body camera footage of Columbus police officers carrying the boy to a cruiser and racing him to Nationwide Children's Hospital. At one point, she threw her cellphone toward the front of the courtroom as she stood up to leave and compose herself.

On July 22, 2023, Shute drove a 2015 Kia Soul previously reported stolen into a grassy area with a playground at the Greenwood Village Apartments, formerly Southpark Apartments .

The Kia was going about 40 mph when it struck Yonis, who was playing with his mother. The posted speed limit in the area is 5 mph.

Shute did not stop after striking Yonis. He did return to the scene briefly to look for his cellphone, Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Michael Shaw said.

Shaw said Shute took no responsibility for his actions and tried to blame Columbus police for rushing Yonis to the hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance.

"I have a three-year-old son and even he has a concept of saying 'I'm sorry,'" Shaw said. "At no point, does Mr. Shute have any remorse for anybody except himself."

Columbus police had been following the Kia but were not actively pursuing it with lights and sirens when the crash happened. Several of the officers saw the crash and put Yonis into a police cruiser, taking him to Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Sam Shamansky, who represented Yonis' parents, said Shute had no respect for human life or decency.

The body camera footage played in court Thursday showed an officer running with Yonis' lifeless body in his arms and other officers running into the emergency room at the hospital, yelling for help from doctors and nurses.

"This is what heroics looks like," Shamansky said. "And this is what death looks like."

Shamansky quoted Shute's interview with Columbus police detectives to Miller, in which Shute tried to say there was a man in the Kia's backseat threatening him with a knife when no such man existed.

"'Little dude ran by, I tried to avoid him. I swerved. I was beeping,'" Shamansky read from Shute's interview. "'I was at the wrong time.' He has the unmitigated gall to blame his mother. He invokes fairness."

Shute did not make any statement on his own behalf before being sentenced.

bbruner@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio man in stolen Kia struck and killed 4-year-old on playground. Now he's going to prison.