Left inset: Juliana Ramos. Right inset: Dr. James Comazzi. Background: The crash scene in California where Juliana Ramos was hit and killed by Dr. James Comazzi, a cardiologist from Tuolumne County (KFSN).
A California cardiologist will spend less than a year behind bars for mowing down a mother of three and aspiring nurse with his SUV, killing her, after she stopped to help a car crash victim.
Juliana Ramos, 26, "pulled over to help another driver who had just been in a car accident," according to a GoFundMe launched by her family after Ramos' 2021 death. "Unfortunately a passing vehicle struck her, killing her instantly," the fundraiser says.
Dr. James Comazzi, a cardiologist from Tuolumne County, was driving the passing vehicle and struck Ramos after she stopped near Manning Avenue in Fresno to help a person involved in a February 2021 crash, the local ABC affiliate KFSN reports.
Comazzi pleaded no contest in March 2026 to felony hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges. He was sentenced to eight months in custody and probation on Wednesday.
"I believe that Mr. Comazzi does not deserve the sentence," Ramos' niece, Ivette Lopez, told KFSN. "That decision was set to be based on his age and lack of criminal record. But what about Juli? Did her age not matter? She had no criminal record. She was going to school to become a CNA."
After the crash, police and Ramos' family said she was an aspiring nurse whose intention was "to help those involved in the accident" when she pulled over that night. Ramos was set to celebrate her birthday just two days later.
"She loved being with her kids," Ramos' sister, Claudia Sanchez, told KFSN in February 2021 after her death. "She's a good person, she had a good heart. She didn't deserve this."
After hitting Ramos, police said Comazzi got out of his SUV for a moment and then got back in and fled.
"Had he stuck around at that point, had he stayed, this case at all, would've been brought as a misdemeanor," Fresno County Superior Court Judge James Kelley said at Comazzi's sentencing.
Lopez reportedly told the court, "What kind of doctor in any specialty does that? He managed to get away with it for eight months. Did he have any remorse? Did he think about the pain he had caused for my family?"
Comazzi spoke briefly during his sentencing, telling Ramos' family, "No words can undo the past or fix the profound brokenness caused by my actions."
He was committed to the custody of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office after the hearing to serve out his jail sentence. Kelley gave him credit for "two conduct credits," per KFSN.