Va. Beach man convicted of hit and run of elderly woman

VIRGINIA BEACH

A Beach man was convicted Monday of seriously injuring an elderly woman while driving drunk, and leaving the scene.

Dorek Emanuel Hayes, 30, pleaded guilty to having a second DUI offense within five years and to drunken driving that resulted in serious injury in connection with a Dec. 30 incident.

Then he stood trial on a felony hit-and-run charge in connection with the same incident.

Mary Edwards, then 72, was pushing a shopping cart in the 4700 block of Honeygrove Road shortly before 5:30 p.m. when she was struck by a black Mitsubishi Eclipse, according to court testimony.

She suffered serious injuries, including broken legs and ankles, cracked ribs and bruised lungs.

She was hospitalized for months and remains in a nursing home, prosecutor S. Catherine Dodson said.

Hayes continued speeding into the next block, where he struck a parked van, according to court testimony.

Police said they found eight small, unopened bottles of brandy on him and text messages on his cell phone, made shortly before the incident from the mother of his child, telling him he shouldn't be driving and to get sober.

Police also testified Hayes had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol.

Hayes' attorney, Michael S. Davis, argued that his client, who has a history of seizures and was taking medication for them, could have suffered one that day.

But Dodson pointed to medical records that she said showed Hayes had seizures only when he was in withdrawal, not when he was drinking.

Circuit Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. described the possibility that Hayes had a seizure that day as mere speculation and convicted him of the hit-and-run charge.

His sentencing is set for Aug. 30.

Jen McCaffery, (757) 222-5119, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com