SC man gets 8 years for DUI crash that ended deputy’s career

LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man has been ordered to spend eight years in prison for a drunken driving crash that injured a Lexington County deputy on his way to work so badly he can never work as an officer again, prosecutors said.

Jordan Nichols was speeding and driving in the wrong lane of state Highway 6 when his SUV hit the marked sheriff’s office SUV head-on in June 2019, investigators said.

It took emergency workers at least 20 minutes to cut Hal from his vehicle after the crash and he suffered a fractured pelvis and one of his thigh bones was dislocated, the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said in a statement.

Nichols had a blood alcohol level of 0.19%, which is more than twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Nichols, 38, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence causing great bodily injury. Circuit Court Judge R. Ferrell Cothran Jr. sentenced Nichols to the maximum of 15 years in prison, suspended to eight years behind bars as long as he successfully completes five years of probation.

The deputy and his wife told the judge how the loss of his law enforcement career has hurt him, his wife and their found children.