This man drove over embankment on purpose, hit a family’s van. Idaho prison term is next
A 74-year-old Idaho man will spend at least the next nine years in prison after he launched his car over an embankment and struck a family’s van head-on in an attempt to die, the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Third District Judge Thomas Whitney sentenced the Nampa man to up to 18 years in prison with the possibility of parole after nine, according to a news release.
In September 2022, the man, under the influence of Oxycodone and other medicine, crashed his vehicle at the intersection of Cherry Lane and Middleton Road in Nampa and struck a van head-on occupied — with six members of a family in the van, the release said.
Prosecutors said the man commented at the time of the crash that he “either didn’t take enough pills or wasn’t driving fast enough.” He was placed on a mental health hold after his arrest for over a year, until his case went to trial in November.
On the first day of trial, the man pleaded guilty to 10 felonies: six counts of aggravated battery and four counts of injury to a child, the release said. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence.
Whitney ordered the man to pay $5,000 to each of the six victims.
“I know the family was relieved that they didn’t have to relive this crash in front of a jury,” Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor said in the release. “This was an extremely dangerous situation, and Judge Whitney did the right thing here.”
