GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Grand Rapids man is headed to prison after he accidentally shot another man inside of a car, then fled and evaded police for nearly four months.
Darrias Hardges, 30, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison Thursday, Oct. 14 for careless discharge of a weapon causing injury or death, carrying a concealed weapon, felony firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Earlier court testimony showed he was trying to clear a jammed handgun in the backseat of a car when it went off, fatally wounding the driver, 27-year-old Jewelian Trevino. The shooting happened Sept. 27, 2020 in the area of Curve Street SW and Underhill Avenue in Grand Rapids.
Related: Accidental gun discharge in car led to Grand Rapids man’s September death: testimony
Hardges told a detective he had fired the gun moments earlier at people who were “out to get him.”
After Trevino was wounded, Hardges fled the car and evaded police for nearly four months.
Trevino’s father, Fred Trevino, said his son was a special person who always had an affinity for dogs, particularly when he was a boy.
“You leave him there to die in the street,” Trevino said during Thursday’s sentencing hearing. “I think of that all the time.
“To shoot somebody and leave them there like they’re nothing, and then you run and hide for months,” he said.
Hardges apologized to the Trevino family and said it was never his intention to hurt Jewelian Trevino.
Hardges has a previous convictions for assault with intent to rob while armed.
In 2019, he was charged with multiple weapons offenses, as well as resisting and obstructing police. Those charges were dismissed as part of his plea in the more recent accidental shooting.
Kent County Circuit Judge Curt Benson said Hardges’ penchant for carrying weapons and gun play “was an accident waiting to happen.”
He sentenced Hardges to 47 months to 7 1/2 years in prison for the weapons charges related to Trevino’s death, then an additional two years for felony firearm.
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