Drunk driver who struck Galveston County Sheriff’s deputy during Go Topless weekend sentenced to a year in jail • Drunk driver’s mom and deputy’s mother cry, hug each other after the guilty plea, sentencing A Beaumont-area man who ran over Galveston County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. John Hamm, during Go Topless/Jeep Weekend on the Bolivar Peninsula in 2022, will spend the next 363 days in jail. Darius Gilbert, 24, of the Jefferson County community of China, TX, pleaded guilty to Driving While Intoxicated during a plea hearing in the Galveston County 10th District Court on Friday (6/14/2024). Gilbert had faced a felony of aggravated assault in connection to the crash that left Hamm with severe brain trauma and multiple bodily injuries. Hamm, 57, died in February from brain cancer that his wife insists resulted from the brain trauma he suffered from the crash. Hamm was directing traffic on state Highway 87 while responding to a minor crash when he was struck by a vehicle with Gilbert behind the wheel. Hamm went over the car’s hood, and his head smashed into the windshield. When the crash happened, Gilbert was in a borrowed car without insurance on a rainy night on a crowded highway. Despite having a blood-alcohol limit of .15 - nearly twice the legal limit in Texas - crash investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety and Galveston Police Department were unable to report definitively that intoxication was the primary factor of the crash that injured Hamm. Texas law requires that finding to pursue those charges to submit to a grand jury that probable cause exists for the enhanced felony charge, Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady confirmed. Aggravated assault with a vehicle carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. So, in January, the DA’s office refiled the case as a misdemeanor DWI since it was Gilbert’s first such offense. In the plea deal, the DA’s office and Gilbert agreed to a guilty plea and the maximum sentence for the charge of 365 days in jail. “Gilbert was charged with and convicted of the offense which the evidence could support - driving while intoxicated,” Roady said in a written statement. With two days credit from when he was first arrested two years ago, Gilbert will be in jail until June 12, 2025. Following the plea hearing, Hamm’s mother, Linda Alvarez, and Gilbert’s mother hugged each other and cried. “I didn’t want this. My son didn’t want this. Today, everybody loses,” Alvarez said during a witness-impact statement before looking across the courtroom directly at Gilbert. “My son forgave you, Darius. (But you) have to know that if you make bad decisions, there are consequences.” The courtroom was packed with friends of family of Hamm including several Galveston County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Monica Cantrell, a former Hitchcock city council member where Hamm was police chief. Gilbert’s mother, twin brother, cousin, and another family member were also in the courtroom. Gilbert’s family declined to provide a statement or speak on camera. “People need to know this was about Darius’ poor decisions and the consequences, not his mother or family. They didn’t make poor decisions. That’s what John always reminded us,” Alvarez said. “Both our families are heartbroken.” Sgt. Hamm’s wife, Jill Hamm, a retired police officer, also provided a statement in court. She spoke of how her husband told her right before he died in February from brain cancer that Gilbert “would turn his life around.” Like her mother-in-law, Hamm spoke with members of Gilbert’s family, expressing the loss both families experienced because of Gilbert’s poor decisions. “I just hope this serves as a reminder or a lesson that poor decisions you make will have consequences that change so many lives,” Hamm said.

Posted by i45NOW TJ Aulds at 2024-06-14 21:22:47 UTC