A former
detective at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was sentenced
Thursday in Montana District Court after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI and felony criminal endangerment in connection with a car crash which happened
on Old Highway 10 near Laurel on May 26, 2011.
Timothy
Nicothodes, 47, on the day of the accident, was driving a Chevrolet Silverado
pickup at 98 mph at about 10:30 p.m. when he slammed into the rear-end of a
Ford Focus going 50 mph. A test showed he had a blood-alcohol level of between
0.192 percent and 0.219 percent, well above the 0.08 legal limit for driving.
The occupants of the car, 19-year-old Baylee Brooks, and passenger Keenan
Weatherford, 20, received numerous cuts and bruises. Nicothodes himself was
also seriously injured, with broken ribs and a broken back.
Nicothodes
reached an agreement with prosecutors in February and entered a no-contest plea
to the single felony charge and admitted guilt to the DUI.
Judge
Gregory Todd sentenced Nicothodes to a 3-year deferred prison sentence and ordered
him to pay a $3,000 fine for the criminal endangerment charge. The judge also
sentenced him to a concurrent six-month jail sentence, with all but three days
suspended, and a $500 fine for DUI. He was given credit for the three days that
he has already served in the county jail.
Todd said
the sentence he imposed reflected a fair punishment for a man who has no prior
criminal record, not even a traffic ticket, and who had a "sparkling
record" as a law enforcement officer. He also said that a deferred sentence
is consistent with the sentences imposed in similar cases.