A Virginia semi-truck driver was sentenced up to five years in prison after crashing into a Michigan State Police squad car with a semi-truck.
Easton Norby-Vardac, 24, was sentenced Tuesday to 24 months to five years in prison, with a credit of 123 days, for reckless driving causing serious impairment of a bodily function. He must also pay $2,430.60 in restitution.
He was also sentenced concurrently to one year in prison, with credit of 123 days, for failure to yield for an emergency responder causing injury.
Norby-Vardac was sentenced on two felony charges that he pleaded no contest to:
- Reckless driving causing serious impairment of a bodily function.
- Failure to yield for an emergency responder causing injury.
The sentencing hearing for Easton Norby-Vardac, 24, was underway in July before technical issues forced a judge to delay the hearing in Van Buren County Circuit Court.
Norby-Vardac and his attorney, Bob Davidoff, appeared over Zoom for the original sentencing. Technical issues led Judge Kathleen Brickley to delay the hearing until Davidoff could appear in-person.
His sentencing resumed Tuesday at 11:15 a.m.
Last month, Michigan State Police Trooper Cole Knaup said he was lucky to be alive after the semi-truck plowed into his squad car on Interstate 94 in April.
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Vardac was traveling 74 mph when his semi-truck crashed into Trooper Knaup's patrol vehicle on I-94 in Van Buren County April 8, according to investigators.
The posted speed limit for trucks on the stretch of interstate is 65 mph.
Knaup and his partner on the Michigan State Police force delivered their victim impact statements before the sentencing was delayed.
Knaup told the courtroom Norby-Vardac's careless actions almost left him dead. Knaup's wife is pregnant with their second child.
"Mr. Vardac almost denied me the chance to meet my newborn son, and that I cannot accept," Knaup said. "I sincerely hope he will never drive a truck again."
The trooper's SUV was stopped in the right lane and its lights were activated at the time of the crash, police said.
New information at the time came to light revealing the 24-year-old had THC in his system at the time of the crash, prosecutors said
"The crash should have killed him. Ten out of ten times. He was inches from losing his life," said Trooper Lena Wileczek, Kanup's best friend and partner on the force.
Wileczek is still haunted by the phone call she got after the crash, she said.
"I couldn't believe this was happening again so quickly after my friend Ryan Proxmire died and now my best friend," Wilcezek said during her victim impact statement.
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A split second decision Trooper Knaup made behind the wheel likely saved his life, police said.
"He saw the truck coming, and he started to drive forward," Wileczek said.
Prosecutors enhanced the sentencing guidelines after THC was detected in Norby-Vardac's system.
Since he wasn't originally charged with a drug crime, his attorney argued it was irrelevant to the sentencing decision.