By KJ MUSHUNG
STAFFORD, Va. — Daniel Ringler appeared in front of the Honorable Michael Levy of Stafford County General District Court on March 5 to face charges filed after crashing his new car with three passengers in Aquia Harbour on July 26, 2012.
He was charged with reckless driving, underage possession of alcohol, driving while intoxicated, driving after illegal consumption of alcohol and failure to comply with the court’s pretrial conditions, which are all misdemeanors. He was represented by attorney Jonathan David.
Ringler was speeding his new Toyota Scion up and down Aquia Drive with a 17-year-old male, a 16-year-old female and an 18-year-old female in the car on the night of July 25. The car crashed at the corner of Aquia Drive and Channel Cove at approximately 1 a.m., July 26. All four sustained injuries.
Ringler and the male passenger were partially trapped inside the vehicle and had to be freed by rescue crews. The females were ejected from the car and seriously injured. One of those female passengers, Oksana Bernuy, appeared in court as a witness but did not testify. Both female passengers reportedly suffered broken backs, according to Major David Decatur of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office. One reportedly had a finger partially severed. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in the crash.
Ringler, wearing a red hoodie and black pants, pleaded guilty to a reduced version of the original reckless driving charge, general reckless driving. He pled no contest to underage possession of alcohol. The commonwealth’s attorney agreed not to pursue the other charges related to the accident as part of the plea agreement. Judge Levy dismissed the charge of failing to comply with pretrial conditions, saying that matter has been rendered moot at this juncture.
On the general reckless driving conviction, the judge sentenced Ringler to 180 days in jail with 150 days suspended provided he not violate the terms of his probation for three years. Ringler also must pay a $500 fine, plus $30 in court costs.
Ringler was granted first offender status for the underage possession of alcohol charge. If he completes 50 hours of community service by Sept. 3, the charge will be dismissed. First offender status gives him this chance to have the charge dismissed after completion of community service instead of receiving a conviction. However, he has lost his driver’s license for six months on the charge.
Ringler will be on three years of unsupervised probation. If he gets in trouble during those three years, he faces serving the suspended jail sentence.
Ringler will begin serving 30 days in jail on March 11. He will turn 20 years old in jail later this month unless he is released early.
