An Ohio resident who received a lifetime revocation of his driver’s license after striking and killing an Ohio state trooper while driving drunk was sentenced to prison this week after driving against the court’s orders.
43-year-old David Dye was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of driving under a specified lifetime suspension. The plea negotiation also included an open container violation, according to a report from local news source nbc4i.com.
In 2001, the resident of Westerville, Ohio struck and killed Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Frank Vazquez, who was conducting a traffic stop on a highway when Dye lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the officer’s patrol car.
One year later, Dye was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony DUI, and he eventually served seven years in prison for his crime.
In addition to the homicide charge, the sentencing judge also took into consideration Dye’s previous drunk driving convictions, which occurred in 1987, 1989, 1991, and 1995.
Dye was released from prison a few years ago and was released from his parole in January 2011. His parole, however, came with a strict order from the judge that Dye would never be allowed to drive again.
Alas, Dye failed to abide by this rule, and concerned neighbors told police in November 2011 that Dye was driving again, and that he wasn’t always sober when he stepped behind the wheel.
So, for roughly two weeks, police were wary of running into Dye, and their vigilance was rewarded one night last November when they pulled Dye over in Genoa Township.
The police report indicates that Dye was seen going into a store to receive a haircut and police caught him driving away from the business on a Saturday afternoon.
To their surprise, the police discovered a cup of lemonade and vodka in Dye’s car, although Dye claims that he had not been drinking the vodka while he was driving.
Such a claim, of course, is not a valid defense to an open container violation, and the police had little patience for the man who had been responsible for the death of one of their own a decade ago.
So, Dye will serve 30 months in prison for driving to a barber shop, but the lesson to be learned in this case is that lifetime driver’s license suspensions are taken very seriously by the court system.
