http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/erie-county/article731820.ece Erie County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Harris pleaded guilty Tuesday in Akron Village Court to drunken driving for a Jan. 16 crash into a house at Mechanic and Buell streets in the village.
Akron Village Justice Dennis R. Freeman fined Harris, 25, of Akron, $1,000 and ordered him to attend a drunken driving program and write a letter of apology to the family whose house he damaged in the 2 a.m. crash.
The judge also ordered Harris, who is back at work in the Sheriff’s Office, to perform 100 hours of unpaid community service within the village and use an ignition interlock device on his car while he has a conditional driver’s license for the next six months.
Harris initially was suspended with pay after he was charged with driving while intoxicated and failure to keep right in the crash
Harris failed to negotiate a corner and struck and damaged the house. He registered a 0.15 percent blood-alcohol level. Harris, a former Akron Police Department officer, joined the Sheriff’s Office in June 2011.
Kelley A. Omel, head of the Erie County District Attorney’s Vehicular Crimes Unit, who handled the Tuesday night plea and sentencing in Village Court, stressed that Harris pleaded guilty to the highest charge he would have faced at trial.
Neither Harris nor his attorney could be reached to comment following the plea and sentencing.
