A former West Virginia University student pleaded guilty this week to felony DUI with death for the April 28, 2009 drunk driving accident that resulted in the death of a 59-year-old woman.
The accident occured when the ex-student’s car crossed the center line and hit the woman’s car head-on on Route 705 in Monongalia County.
Medical records indicate that the ex-student’s blood alcohol level was .351 at the time of the crash, significantly over the legal limit.
If convicted, the ex-student faces up to 11.5 years in prison in addition to the house confinement that he has been restricted to since his arrest in May 2009.
The ex-student was also charged with driving with a suspended license.
A Ritchie County State Trooper was struck this weekend by a suspected drunk driver while speaking to the driver of another car he had pulled over.
The officer is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit at a Charleston Area Hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
Police say that while it is rare for troopers to be hit in this fashion, drivers have a tendency to move towards the flashing lights on the police vehicle when another car is pulled over.
“We encourage people not to look at a cruiser that has someone pulled over along the road somewhere,” said Senior Trooper Baron Claypool from the Bridgeport Detachment. “Also, if there’s an accident scene, try to keep your eyes on the road and focus on your mission at hand instead of trying to focus on the mission that we’re trying to accomplish. As your eyes wander, so does your steering wheel, and it creates a hazard for troopers that are along the roadways and it also creates a traffic hazard for other motorists on the roads.”
Police are looking for the driver who struck the officer, but are having little success.
If you or someone you love has been injured by a drunk driver, contact the Clarksburg drunk driving accident attorneys of the Law Offices of David Frame at 800-352-9460 today.
An Oakton, Va., man pleaded guilty yesterday in court to driving under the influence during the events that led to the death of a 20-year-old Hagerstown student on the West Virginia University campus in Morgantown on February 27.
The 20-year-old student died from head trauma after jumping onto the bumper of the defendant’s car and then falling off. The 21-year-old defendant was sentenced to serve 24 hours of a 30-day jail sentence and placed on unsupervised probation for one year.
The next day would have been the student’s 21st birthday. He was studying industrial engineering at WVU.
