Ellendale man gets 15 years in prison for severely injuring young girl in Dover wreck
Jerry Smith
An Ellendale man who let his own child out of the car moments before he crashed into another vehicle in Dover, severely injuring a 10-year-old girl, will spend the next 15 years in prison.
Oliver Barnes, 39, was sentenced Wednesday in Kent County Court after pleading guilty to first-degree vehicular assault and misdemeanor DUI after the March 1 accident. It left 10-year-old Toni Dulin of Smyrna unable to walk, talk or eat on her own and able to communicate only by blinking her eyes.
Barnes then was out on bail for another DUI charge, Deputy Attorney General Stephen Smith told Judge William L. Witham Jr. on Wednesday.
After Barnes apologized in court to the victims' families, Dulin's mother, Adrianna Allen, called the accident a senseless tragedy because the system let Barnes out on bail after driving drunk.
Barnes was driving a Pontiac Grand Prix more than 90 mph when it slammed into a Toyota Camry stopped at a red light at Blue Hen Boulevard and Bay Road near Buffalo Wild Wings, prosecutors said.
When Barnes is released after serving his sentence, Allen said, he will be back out on the road and he "will kill somebody this time."
"How many offenses does somebody have to have before it is too much?" Allen said tearfully. "The judicial system doesn't see the pain the families go through. My daughter has to live with a brain injury the rest of her life."
Smith asked Witham for the maximum sentence of 25 years.
"He shouldn't get a sentence less than he gave Toni," the deputy attorney general said.
Witham sentenced Barnes to 15 years in prison on the vehicular assault charge and a year for the DUI, with different levels of probation to follow.
"You turned yourself into a human time bomb and there is no excuse for that," Witham said.
Background: 10-year-old girl critically injured in Dover crash
According to court documents, Barnes' car struck the Camry at such a high rate of speed that it pushed the right rear tire of the vehicle into the rear of the front passenger seat where the 10-year-old girl was sitting.
Allen, who was driving the Camry, was taken to Bayhealth Kent General Hospital where she was treated for head and neck pain that resulted in temporary memory loss, according to court documents.
Her 10-year-old daughter underwent emergency surgery at Bayhealth Kent General Hospital for a head injury. She was then flown to the Nemours Alfred I. duPont Children's Hospital for Children.
Barnes was charged with driving under the influence, first-degree vehicular assault, second-degree vehicular assault, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license, court records showed.
Barnes "made an open confession" to the Bayhealth medical staff that he had consumed two bottles of Hennessy before the crash. His blood alcohol concentration was 0.25, more than three times the legal limit.
Barnes was also admitted to Bayhealth Kent General Hospital with a spinal injury. He was arraigned at the hospital.
Before the wreck, Barnes' 13-year-old son had his father pull over about a mile before the intersection, according to court documents. The boy told police he wanted to get out of the car because his father was too drunk to drive and he would rather walk in the rain. The son walked to the scene of the accident, where he told police officers what had happened.
After sentencing, Allen said the laws governing drunk drivers need to be changed.
"Nobody is safe," she said. "They are right back on the road. Whose family does this have to happen to next?"
Delaware DUI stats
- Delaware in 2004 became the last state in the nation to adopt the 0.08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) standard. The move came under the threat of losing nearly $2 million in federal highway money and only after nearly a decade of failed attempts.
- In 2005 — the first full year of the new BAC limit — the state recorded almost 10,400 DUI arrests and 60 deaths from alcohol-related crashes.
- By 2016 (the last full year of stats), the number of DUI arrests had fallen 54 percent to 4,770. The number of deaths from alcohol-related crashes slipped to just 48 after two straight years at 61 — virtually the same as 13 years earlier.
- Repeat offenders accounted for 13 percent of all DUI arrests in 2016.
- About 74 percent of those arrested in 2016 were at or above 0.13 blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
— Stats are from the Delaware Office of Highway Safety
Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.
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