Newark man sentenced for striking deputy during chase
LICKING COUNTY
NEWARK — A Newark man who led officers on a highspeed chase, and hit a deputy with the truck, was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison in Licking County Common Pleas Court.
Brandt Gainer, 28, sought leniency, saying past courtordered drug treatment had helped, but Judge David Branstool was not moved.
“You can talk all you want about treatment and how well you do; here we are back in the same position you were seven or eight years ago, right?” Branstool said. “I look back now and say, ‘What a waste of time.’”
Gainer pleaded no contest Tuesday to felony counts of felonious assault, failure to comply and tampering with evidence and was found guilty by Branstool. He was sentenced to a total of seven years, to be served after a current 18-month sentence in a separate case. Branstool also suspended Gainer’s driver’s license for 10 years. According to court documents, Gainer broke into the Newark home of his estranged wife on Aug. 19 and took a 2000 Chevy Silverado. He subsequently led officers on a high-speed chase through residential neighborhoods, tossing a methamphetamine pipe out a window before crashing into another vehicle. Shots were fired by a deputy during the chase after Gainer refused to stop and, at one point, drove directly at a deputy, according to documents. The deputy was hit in the leg and hip by Gainer’s vehicle.
Gainer has a criminal record that includes failing to comply with officers’ commands, carrying concealed weapons illegally and resisting arrest, according to documents.
Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Clifford Murphy said past opportunities to complete court-ordered treatment, even after a judicial release in an earlier case, did not deter Gainer from committing more crimes.
“He is not going to comply with community control,” Murphy said. “At this point in time, he is a danger to this community.”
But Kristin Burkett, Gainer’s attorney, urged a shorter sentence, saying her client had relapsed into drug use after a series of traumatic events in 2017, including a bad car crash, the death of a brother and the loss of his job.
She said Gainer did not intend to hit the deputy.
“He understands he was certainly reckless ... and it was his actions that caused the officer to be hurt,” Burkett said, “and I believe he has genuine remorse for that.”