Landmark Communications
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A judge sentenced a former Virginia Beach sheriff’s deputy Wednesday to serve four and a half years for injuring a couple when she was driving drunk last year.
Lisa Marie Schettler had been working as a deputy when she received her first DUI arrest on Jan. 7, 2009, prosecutor Sara R. Chandler said.
She was terminated from that position after the arrest.
Two months after her first arrest, Schettler was involved in a head-on collision with Donald and Elaine Gay on Birdneck Road.
Donald Gay, 63, received broken bones in his right wrist.
His wife, Elaine, 62, hurt her ankle and knees.
Schettler, 24, had pleaded guilty to one count of DUI with serious injury and a second DUI offense within a five-year period.
Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson told Schettler that her reckless disregard for others demanded serious punishment.
“They’re very fortunate that they weren’t hurt anymore than they were,” Hanson said.
Elaine Gay said after the hearing that she did want Schettler to know she forgives her.
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