Woman Pleads No Contest to DUI for Crash That Injured Granddaughter

A 56-year-old woman with a pending drunken driving case pleaded no contest on Monday to another charge of driving under the influence in connection with a in Belmont in March.

Alla Hajiyeva, a Redwood City resident, pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol and causing bodily injury in San Mateo County Superior Court for the crash at El Camino Real and Harbor Boulevard on March 31, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

Hajiyeva, who also had an additional pending misdemeanor drunk driving case from Oct. 25, 2010, in Daly City, was given a one year suspended sentence on the condition of 120 days county jail and three years of supervised probation.

The crash occurred while Hajiyeva was driving on El Camino Real with her 5-year-old granddaughter in the car. Hajiyeva rear-ended a 2009 BMW sedan that was stopped at a red light around 4 p.m. on March 31, prosecutors said.

The driver of the BMW, a 60-year-old Belmont woman, was taken to a hospital with neck pain, and Hajiyeva's granddaughter suffered stomach pain, according to prosecutors.

At the time, Hajiyeva reportedly claimed she had only drank one beer, but police say she failed field sobriety tests and that a preliminary alcohol-screening test revealed a 0.24 percent blood-alcohol level.

Hajiyeva had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed her mind at her pretrial conference on Monday.

She has remained in custody since her arrest in lieu of $50,000 bail, and is due back in court on Aug. 3 for her restitution memo.