DULUTH, Ga. — A man accused of severely hurting a Duluth police officer last year was sentenced Tuesday.
Eduardo Gutierrez accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to 20 years in the August 2021 hit-and-run crash. He will spend 10 years behind bars and the rest can be served on probation, the judge said.
Prosecutors said Gutierrez crashed into Officer Ricky Porter's patrol vehicle last year on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard at the intersection of Abbotts Bridge Road.
Porter was driving north while on routine patrol when Gutierrez ran a red light and struck him, then kept going, Gwinnett County Police Department said. He was quickly arrested nearby.
Porter's wife delivered an impact statement in court speaking on how the crash has changed their lives.
"I am my husband's memory. I am his mind," she said. "We go down the road, you can't imagine how it triggers me to see a police car."
She said her husband, a 12-year veteran officer, has severe memory issues to the point where a conversation he has today may not be remembered the next week.
The officer is still recovering from his injuries.
Gutierrez will not be allowed to return to Gwinnett County unless advised by a probation officer, as determined by the court.