Thread: Aggravated vehicular assault.

Aggravated vehicular assault
Man must do 10 years before being deported
Saturday, February 13, 2010 3:09 AM
By Bruce Cadwallader

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

COLUMBUS, OHIO - Baltazar Altunar had wanted to get out of prison early in Ohio to go home to Mexico. A man who injured seven people by driving drunk on Christmas 2008 was sentenced to an Ohio prison for 10 years yesterday.

A request by Baltazar Altunar, 22, to be deported early before the end of his sentence was denied by a Franklin County judge.

"That would be a gift," Common Pleas Judge John F. Bender said. "This court has absolutely no sympathy for repeat drunken drivers."

Altunar had no license and a previous drunken-driving conviction when he drove the wrong way on I-270 the day of the crash. He is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and will be deported after serving the entire 10-year sentence.

He had asked to be sent back early to Mexico, where he says he has two aging parents.

Prosecutors said Altunar had a blood-alcohol content of 0.219 percent after the crash on I-270 near Alum Creek Drive about 10 a.m. Christmas Day. At 0.08 percent, a motorist is considered to be driving drunk in Ohio.

Altunar drove against traffic for nearly 5 miles after dozing behind the wheel. His car collided head-on with a family of three. Three other cars and a tractor-trailer were involved in the crash.

Medics at the scene at first thought Altunar was dead, but they revived him. He spent a week in intensive care and is scheduled to undergo more surgeries in March. He walks with a cane.

He pleaded guilty in January to three counts of aggravated vehicular assault for the three victims in the first car, who were the most seriously injured. One of those charges included a specification for drunken driving, Assistant County Prosecutor William Walton said.

Those injured in the crash did not appear at the hearing and did not want to comment, Walton said. One wrote the judge that the crash has caused "emotional scars" to his 18-year-old daughter.

Defense attorney William Carter said Altunar admitted he was drinking beer the night before the crash, which occurred after he dropped off a friend. Police found an empty box of beer in the car and empty beer cans.

"He does not remember exactly what happened," Carter told the judge. "This is the kind of case that youthful stupidity tends to produce. It was an unintentional act."

Bender sentenced Altunar to 10 years in prison and suspended his driving privileges for the maximum 10 years.

"When he raised to his lips whatever he was drinking and got behind the wheel of a car, that was an intentional act," Bender said.

bcadwallader@dispatch.com

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/lo ... ml?sid=101

"He does not remember exactly what happened," Carter told the judge. "This is the kind of case that youthful stupidity tends to produce. It was an unintentional act."

Youthful stupidity? Give me a break!

So he's worried about his aging parents? He's only 22. How old could they be?

Christmas 2008 was not that long ago. His aging parents were almost as old on that day as they are now. Too bad he didn't go back to Mexico before he drove drunk.

He was too young to be responsible, and his parents are too old to be without him.

The injuries and damages to seven people, as well has his intensive care hospital bills. His parents should be made to cough up every dime after his prison sentence to pay it all back first.