MEDINA, Ohio — A hit-skip driver from Medina was sentenced to jail on Monday for an incident that seriously injured a woman last November.
Judge William Hutson sentenced Jayvonte Thomas, 27, to six months in jail, placed him under supervision for five years and ordered him to pay more than $200,000 in restitution.
Thomas was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident, a felony of the fourth degree.
RELATED: Family of Medina woman critically injured in hit-skip questioning justice system
Laura Schmid's nerves were rattled as she waited anxiously for the sentence in the courtroom.
"Just seeing him today brought everything back," Schmid said.
Graphic pictures captured Schmid's horrific injuries, which included deep bruising on her face, nine broken ribs, five broken vertebra, a broken pelvis bone, a broken forehead, a torn liver and a collapsed lung.
"I still have pain. I'm afraid to walk down the sidewalk in my own neighborhood," she said.
Schmid was walking home from a dinner at a Medina restaurant on the evening of November 11 when she tripped in pile of leaves and landed in Smith Road.
As witnesses tried to help her to her feet, a blue Jeep Compass driven by Thomas hit her.
Thomas got out of the car, realized what happened, got back into the vehicle and sped off.
During a victim impact statement, Schmid's husband, Mark Schmuck, spoke directly to Thomas.
"How could you do something like that?" Schmuck said. "Why did you leave her laying in the road to die? You can't answer that. Exactly what I thought."
Video from a Medina business and from Police Flock cameras helped identify the SUV, which led to Thomas's arrest about three weeks later.
Police said after the hit-and-run, Thomas kept driving to the airport to drop off his girlfriend (the owner of the car) who was going on a cruise.
"He drops her off at the airport. She goes on a nine-day cruise. My wife is in the hospital for eight," Schmuck said.
Prior to sentencing, Schmuck asked the judge to impose the maximum, which would have been three years in prison.
Schmuck believes Thomas will learn a lesson by getting some jail time.
"Did we get shortchanged on this deal? Yes. Did he get penalized for what he did? Yes. Should it be more? Absolutely," Schmuck said.
Thomas was emotional, fighting through tears, as he apologized to the family in court.
"I want to apologize for the pain and hurt I caused you guys. You're right. I was a coward," Thomas said. "My cowardness of being just so scared. I just felt like I had to get away."
Schmid was not moved by the apology.
"If he was sorry, he would have called 911. Isn't that what people do when something like that happens?" she told News 5.
In comments to the court, Thomas's attorney, Paul Grant, said Thomas has a baby, no prior criminal record and a goal of becoming a Medina police officer.
"Not only did he complete the police academy, he also had passed all the tests of the Ohio state patrols. He was trying get a job with Medina Police Department," Grant said.
Schmid was taken aback by the defendant's desire to go into law enforcement.
"He wants to be a police officer? Look what he did," she said.
Schmuck, who said he nearly lost his wife because of the hit-skip, is inspired by her strength.
"I think it's time that she gets to move forward. Finally. It'll help us both to go forward," he said.
Schmid said the emotional part of the hit-skip remains a struggle, and she has a hard time sleeping. Physically, she does exercises twice a day to help with the healing process.
"I still have scars that aren't probably going to go away," she said. "Every time I look in the mirror every morning, it all comes back."
