A good way to get past a drunken driving charge that includes injuries is to express remorse for your actions. Raising money on a social fundraising website for Mothers Against Drunk Driving might be a good start – as long as you are raising money for the people that you injured. Raising money for a family member without mentioning the fact that you injured people while driving drunk might come across as being disingenuous. NBC Los Angeles reports on a woman who will be serving three years after injuring a police officer in a DUI.
On December 10, 2016, Orange Police Department officer Sharif Muzayen was standing at the rear of his patrol vehicle when 27-year-old Ashley Bertolino crashed into Muzayen.
Muzayen suffered a broken fibula and tibia along with brain hemorrhaging. He lost nine pints of blood at the scene. He had to receive skin grafts and a transplanted cow artery. His leg is attached to his body with a titanium rod and he walks with a cane. Some days, he is forced to use a wheelchair. He spent six weeks in the hospital.
Muzayen was prepared to forgive Bertolino. Then, his wife found Instagram posts where she said she was raising money for MADD because her stepfather had been injured in a DUI accident. She also posted that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
Muzayen argued that the social media posts indicated that Bertolino showed no remorse for her actions.
Bertolino, who avoided prison time in 2010 after being sentenced to drug treatment, pleaded guilty in August to causing bodily injuries while driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. On Tuesday, October 24, she was sentenced to three years in prison. Had she gone to trial, she would have faced a possible six years.
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