Beach man gets 11 years for DUI and hit-and-run

Posted to: Crime News Virginia Beach
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By Jen McCaffery
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 31, 2010

VIRGINIA BEACH

A judge sentenced a Beach man Monday to serve 11 years for seriously injuring a woman while he was driving drunk.

Dorek Emanuel Hayes, 30, had been convicted of felony hit-and-run, drunken driving that led to serious injury, and a second drunken-driving offense within five years in connection with the Dec. 30 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 that Hayes was driving.

Edwards suffered serious injuries, including broken legs and ankles, cracked ribs and bruised lungs. She was hospitalized for months and remains in a nursing home.

Hayes continued speeding into the next block, where he struck a parked van.

During Monday's hearing, prosecutor Catherine Dodson said that leading up to the accident, Hayes had been to the hospital several times with high blood-alcohol concentration.

She also said that on the day of the incident, the mother of Hayes' child sent him three text messages, saying she didn't think he should be driving.

Hayes apologized to Edwards and her family in court and said he has realized he has a problem. Neither Edwards not her husband attended the hearing because of health problems, Dodson said.

Circuit Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. said the case was probably one of the worst drunken driving cases he had seen during his 18 years on the bench.

"I'm amazed that she's still alive," Padrick said.

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

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It all depends on the victim

Submitted by Opus on Tue, 08/31/2010 at 10:37 am.

So, if the victim wasn't homeless, wasn't riding a bike, and the driver is drunk, then it's a crime. But if any of the previous statements is not true, then the driver gets out of jail free...

Put him on ice

Submitted by XXX on Mon, 08/30/2010 at 9:26 pm.

It's pretty cold to drive off and leave someone you just hit with your car.

An error in judgment

Submitted by AyeAyeCapn on Mon, 08/30/2010 at 7:50 pm.

He merely selected the wrong place to run someone over. If he were driving on the beach at the oceanfront, ran over and killed someone, then he could say "oops, sorry, not my fault, sucks to be you..." then have the legal department of VaBeach defending what he did! One poor choice of M.O and he's doing time.

So let me understand this

Submitted by Lost_Sailor on Mon, 08/30/2010 at 2:26 pm.

If you take a firearm into a bar, get into an altercation with someone, get thrown out of the bar, continue the argument in the parking lot and the SHOOT THE MAN DEAD, you get a year in prison. If, on the other hand, you drive drunk, hit someone who is walking down the side of a busy road, and injure them, you get 10 years.

This doesn't make much sense to me. Kill and get one year, injure and get 10 years. I am not condoning DUI, nor am I complaining about the sentence. I am complaining about the injustice that exists in the court system