Injured pedestrian seeks leniency for motorist

'I'd hate to see his whole life ruined'

RALEIGH -- David Barber didn't mention his leg Monday afternoon, broken in two places and now held together with a stainless steel rod. He didn't talk about the bonuses he's not getting because he can't drive and do the field work for his job as an insurance adjuster.

Instead, supported by crutches, he stood in a Wake County courtroom and asked for leniency for the drunken driver who ran over him, Doroteo Calles Hernandez, 23, who stood a few feet away in a standard-issue, orange-and-white jail jumpsuit.

"I'd hate to see his whole life ruined," Barber told Wake Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway.

Hernandez was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 to four years in state prison in exchange for a guilty plea on charges of felony hit and run, impaired driving and assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury. If the initial charge of attempted first-degree murder hadn't been dropped, Hernandez would have faced a minimum of 10 years behind bars.

He'll most likely be deported to his native Mexico, which he left six years ago at age 17 to come, alone and illegally, to the United States.

It was Barber who pushed Wake Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cruden to offer the plea on lesser charges, telling the 14-year prosecutor that a decade was too much time for a young man like Hernandez to pay for Barber's injuries.

"Victims are the ones who should be the ones that are most angry, but often they're the ones who speak up" for defendants, Cruden said.

In the early evening of March 17, Barber and his girlfriend, Cissy McKissick, were walking her dog down Jeffries Street near her house in West Raleigh's Roylene Acres subdivision when they saw a 1998 Ford Contour speeding down the road. Barber raised his fist and yelled at the driver to slow down. The driver turned the corner and the couple continued their walk, but the Contour approached again.

Barber walked to the stopped car while McKissick stood on the opposite side of the street.

"I was expecting an argument," Barber said.

Instead, the engine revved and the vehicle lurched forward 10 feet, hitting Barber and throwing him over the hood before the driver sped off. Barber was rushed to the hospital, and Raleigh police began their search for the driver.

Meanwhile, a scared Hernandez drove to his nearby apartment and told a friend what had happened, said Maitri "Mike" Klinkosum, Hernandez's attorney. The friend, Tony Hubbard, who was also a manager at the Burger King where Hernandez had worked for years, urged his friend to return to the crime scene. Hernandez did and was led away in handcuffs after blowing 0.12 on an alcohol breath test. A driver is legally impaired at 0.08. He later told police that he drank six beers in a two-hour period. He denied having been enraged, saying that he never intended to hit Barber.

Cruden doesn't believe him.

'He got angry'

"He got angry with this guy because this guy had the audacity to call him out," Cruden said.

In court Monday, Barber and McKissick arrived not knowing what to expect when they saw Hernandez, a slight man who could have passed for a teenager. Barber's own two sons are about the same age.

Throughout the hearing, Hernandez kept his eyes down, as his attorney told Ridgeway how the young man had made a point of learning English soon after arriving in the Raleigh area and had never gotten in trouble during the six years he'd lived here.

An interpreter repeated the court proceedings in Spanish to Hernandez.

Hubbard sat on a court bench behind his friend while Klinkosum read a letter from him, telling Ridgeway that "Teo" was a close family friend and a "good person who has made some mistakes."

When it came time for Barber and McKissick to speak, Hernandez turned and looked at the couple.

Both are satisfied that he is being punished with the prison sentence he received Monday and hope he will use the time in prison to address his anger management issues as well as any issues with alcohol he may have.

"He can use this chance," McKissick said. "I wish for him a life of good things."

When the couple finished speaking, Hernandez murmured, "Gracias." The court interpreter turned and relayed the message to the two.

"Thank you."