A retired Henrico County police officer on Tuesday faced for the first time the man he almost killed 14 months ago in a drunken-driving wreck in a highway safety zone on Interstate 295.
At the end of a two-hour sentencing hearing, John Randolph Tucker III, convicted of maiming and driving under the influence, was led from a Henrico courtroom in handcuffs to serve three years in prison. Robert M. Harrison, 42, his body aching from head-to-toe injuries that will permanently affect him, left by elevator supported on two canes and accompanied by his parents.
"He was the worst-looking mess I'd ever seen," Harrison's mother, Carol, told the court Tuesday, describing injuries that included fractures that broke through the skin of every limb, 13 broken ribs, collapsed lungs and a face swollen beyond recognition.
On the witness stand, Harrison broke into tears speaking of constant setbacks from the midnight incident July 1, 2010, and his operations. He said he has no memory of events a week before the crash or of the next 39 days. Harrison said he faces more surgery for closing his abdomen, which was opened from his sternum to his pelvis and never was sutured.
Outside the courthouse, he managed to joke that he still hasn't reached closure, literally.
Tucker, 57, whose blood-alcohol level at the time of the may have been as high as three times the legal limit, read to Harrison a long letter, which Tucker said he'd worked on since the day after he hit him.
"I think he was trying to undermine his guilt" by expressing sympathy, Harrison said. But Tucker, the son of a retired judge, also spoke of depression, anxiety and a broken heart.
"It seemed impossible for me to convey the sorrow and the remorse," the Sandston resident said, looking toward Harrison. "Words seem so inadequate." He apologized for actions "that weren't conceived with malice or intent.
"Our lives will never be the same. I do not expect you to forgive me," he said, telling Harrison that he'll carry the knowledge of Harrison's injuries for the rest of his life.
Circuit Judge L.A. Harris Jr. spoke of Tucker's 26-year law-enforcement career and contributions to public safety and the respect he has of other officers. But the judge said he could not overlook the fact that Tucker had been drinking heavily at two locations — one of them a police retirement party — had rejected pleas that he not drive, boasted of his invulnerability because of his police background, and ran over Harrison, who was standing in a highway safety zone.
And special prosecutor Cathy Black countered defense testimony put on by Tucker's lawyer, Matthew P. Geary, that a temporary merge lane from Nuckols Road onto I-295 was below standards and far too short to safely merge traffic into the one travel lane that was open.
Rather, Black said, Tucker's truck struck Harrison at 45 mph far inside the coned-off sections of highway and far to the right and beyond the temporary acceleration-merge lane. "That had nothing to do with what happened," she said in her final argument, speaking of the acceleration-lane deficiency.
Tucker rolled through cones and large signs, and failed to notice Harrison standing beside a truck affixed with a flashing safety light.
And Black chastised references to the illness-plagued Tucker as a broken man, turning to Harrison and pointedly saying that he was the broken man, not Tucker.
Harris sentenced Tucker, who is facing a $20.35 million injury suit, to six months in jail for driving under the influence, and two years and six months for maiming. He stood to get a maximum of six years. Geary had argued that Tucker, who'd been out on bond since shortly after his arrest, deserved no jail time.
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