By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH
Staff Writer
GREENVILLE, Mo. -- A former patron of Brick's Off-Road Park was sentenced Monday to a total of 14 years in prison in connection with a drunk-driving crash that left a local woman paralyzed and his passenger injured.
Jeremy S. Sykes, 36, of Dyersburg, Tenn., was convicted in March by a Wayne County jury of two Class C felonies of second-degree assault.
Sykes was convicted of causing physical injury to Lori Garner of Poplar Bluff, Mo., and the passenger in his truck, Becky Farrow of Dyersburg in a June 5, 2015, crash, which occurred at the intersection of Highway F and County Road 484.
At the time of the crash, Sykes was among the estimated crowd of 14,000 plus people at the park's Trucks Gone Wild Event on June 4-7, 2015.
Sykes, according to earlier reports, allegedly was intoxicated when his pickup ran a stop sign near the park and struck Garner's car.
Garner, a former special education coordinator for the Poplar Bluff R-1 School District, was seriously injured in the crash, which damaged her vertebra and spinal cord and left her a quadriplegic.
Farrow also was seriously injured in the crash.
Prior to sentencing Sykes, Circuit Judge Sidney Pearson III heard testimony from three witnesses, including the defendant.
"Mr. (Darrin) Garner testified at sentencing that his life had been changed and particularly his wife's life had been changed forever," explained Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Paul Oesterreicher.
Garner, according to Oesterreicher, told the court Sykes had been on probation before and "to give him probation again would be an injustice.
"He pleaded to the court for the court to give him seven and seven consecutive for a total of 14 years."
The defense, Oesterreicher said, provided testimony from Farrow and Sykes.
"(Farrow) stated how good of a person (Sykes) was, and she did not want him to go to prison," Oesterreicher.
When cross examined, Oesterreicher said, Farrow "admitted she had been served a subpoena last year to come to trial and refused to contact the prosecuting attorney's office."
Oesterreicher said Farrow also told the court she had spent 31 days in the hospital, and she has not worked since the accident.
Farrow, according to her testimony, has been applying for disability.
"I argued to the judge that there were two people that were disabled out of this incident and recommended seven and seven consecutive, and the judge sentenced accordingly," Oesterreicher said.
The defense, he said, asked for 120-day ITC (institutional treatment center), but "under my cross-examination of the defendant, he admitted he did not have a drug problem or an alcohol problem."
During Sykes' testimony, Oesterreicher said, the defendant told the court he did not remember any of the incident.
The defense argued at trial that it was impossible to know who was driving the truck at the time of the crash as both Sykes and Farrow were moving around inside its cab as it rotated counterclockwise after striking Garner's car.
According to trial testimony, Sykes' truck did not roll completely over; it rolled on its top and then back over onto its side with the passenger corner impacting with the embankment. Farrow was ejected, and passersby pulled Sykes from the damaged truck.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers who investigated the crash determined Sykes was the driver at the time of the crash.
A blood sample, drawn from Sykes pursuant to a search warrant, was tested and found it had a blood-alcohol content of .102 percent plus/minus .05 percent.