A Long Island man was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday for hitting a 15-year-old girl and dragging her under his car while driving drunk last year.
Authorities say 50-year-old German Gutierrez was driving his Jeep Liberty on East Beech Street in Long Beach the night of Sept. 3, 2012, without his headlights on, when he drove through a stop sign and struck the girl who was walking her bicycle across the street.
Gutierrez then kept driving with the girl pinned under his car, dragging her for more than 600 feet, officials said. The victim survived, but required extensive skin grafts and was left severely scarred.
Gutierrez told officers at the time that he had consumed "like, a thousand drinks." Police said his blood-alcohol level was still more than three times the legal limit five hours later.
In May, Gutierrez pleaded guilty to assault in the first degree – depraved indifference, aggravated driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident with serious physical injury.
