Hardeeville driver sentenced to 7 years after Bluffton DUI crash severely injured man
A Hardeeville man has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2018 when he drove head-on into another car on S.C. 170 in Bluffton and severely injured a man.
On Tuesday, David Reyes-Reyes, 36, of Hardeeville was sentenced to seven years in prison for felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury.
Reyes has been incarcerated in the Beaufort County Detention Center for nearly three years, so that time fulfills part of his sentence. He has a little over four years left in his sentence.
Reyes’ attorney, Beaufort-based Cory Fleming, did not return a phone call on Tuesday afternoon.
In a white van driving west on S.C. 170, Reyes drifted over the center line and crashed head on into a Mitsubishi compact car going the opposite direction late in the evening of June 18, 2018.
The Mitsubishi driver was entrapped in his car and had to be airlifted to an area hospital, according to a previous article from the Island Packet.
A Bluffton Police report said the driver never checked on the victim after the crash, and witnesses told police he ran into the forest nearby.
Reyes was apprehended by a citizen, the report said.
In addition to DUI, Bluffton police charged Reyes with hit and run in a crash causing great bodily injury, a felony that can result in up to 10 years in prison.
On Monday, the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office dropped the hit-and-run charge against Reyes. A spokesperson for the agency said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he ran away.
Reyes refused to take a Breathalyzer test but also failed a field sobriety test that night. He admitted to officers that he’d had three beers before driving, the police report said.
