Terrence Meeks rammed his BMW into a parked Mini Cooper outside a strip club near downtown L.A., pinning two men standing in front of the car on March 10. The force of the crash severed both legs of one victim and crushed the right leg of the other victim so badly that it had to be amputated.
Meeks pleaded no contest to the DUI crash. In exchange for his plea, one count of driving with .08 percent blood-alcohol causing injury was dismissed.
One of the victims addressed the court at the sentencing hearing Wednesday.
"I suffer from the dreams of the white car coming at me, but in this dream, I wake up before it hits me. I suffer from the anxiety of not being able to sleep. I have to have help to go to the bathroom. I can't even take care of myself," said Sal Wilson. "I had a great job, a great career before this happened."
Meeks' mother spoke to the court as well, apologizing to the victims and begging for their forgiveness.
"This has been a tragedy for everybody involved," she said. "My son is not the kind of person that would do something like this intentionally."
Initially, there were allegations that Meeks yelled out racial slurs at the two men, who are both Latino, as he crashed into them. But the D.A. later said there was no evidence of that. The D.A. also said there was not enough evidence to charge Meeks with attempted murder in the crime, which is what police arrested him for.
