Former Bluffton financial adviser sentenced for DUI crash that disabled Bluffton man
A former financial adviser from Bluffton was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a car crash while driving under the influence that led to traumatic brain injuries for a Bluffton man.
Todd Blackwell, formerly a partner in a Bluffton wealth management company, pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony DUI charge, one count of open container and one count of broken seal of alcohol. He will serve five years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections, with five years of suspended probation following his release.
The sentence was handed down by Beaufort County Judge Brooks P. Goldsmith.
The crash occurred Nov. 21, 2020, when Blackwell was heading east on U.S. 278 and rear-ended a Corvette stopped at a red light at Burnt Church Road, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The Corvette was run off the road on the right, where it hit an unoccupied parked car. Upon impact, the driver’s head struck a metal piece of the car’s inner frame. The driver’s wife, Linda Reker, was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash and had minor injuries. Blackwell was not injured.
The accident inflicted a traumatic brain injury on Reker’s husband, who is no longer able to take care of himself and now lives in a long-term care facility, according to testimony from his family Thursday.
Reker previously filed a lawsuit against Blackwell, seeking damages for her injuries in the accident. The suit never went to trial.
During the trial, Reker and other family members testified to the emotional and financial burdens of the accident, remarking that their family patriarch’s vegetative state is a fate “worse than death.” More than two years after the crash, his brain injuries leave him still unable to communicate with family members.
From the other side of the courtroom, defense attorney Sam Bauer and others spoke of Blackwell’s improving health and recent good choices. Blackwell has stayed sober for the two years since the accident, indicated by an unbroken trend of negative daily drug tests. He also began working at Stretch Zone in Bluffton, eventually securing a management position within the franchise.
Defense attorney Sam Bauer could not immediately be reached for comment.
This story was originally published December 19, 2022 at 2:12 PM.
