Callahan & Blaine

A 38-year-old Long Beach fire captain who was convicted of crashing into a bicyclist in a DUI hit-and-run has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison, but his sentence was suspended pending the successful completion of five years of probation, according to a news report.

John David Hines of Huntington Beach will spend one year in Orange County Jail and another four years on probation after pleading guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, hit-and-run with injury, and sentencing enhancements and allegations for causing great bodily injury and having a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.2 percent.

Hines drove his pickup while intoxicated on April 1 and hit bicyclist Jeffrey Gordon, 47.  Hines left the scene of the accident and was followed by witnesses to his home, where he was arrested after those witnesses called police.

Gordon suffered severe injuries, including head trauma, severe lacerations and bruising, internal injuries and spinal injuries.  He was hospitalized for two weeks, and continues to suffer from speech and memory loss as well as physical impairments as a result of the hit-and-run accident.

If you or a loved one is involved in an accident that causes death or serious injury, call Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm. We are one of the leading catastrophic injury firms in the state of California. In fact, in the last five years alone our lawyers have obtained over $1.2 billion in verdicts and settlements, including a record breaking $50 Million settlement against the City of Dana Point, which has been certified as the largest personal injury settlement in the history of the United States.  Callahan & Blaine has also recently obtained a $28 Million settlement for a driver who was hit by a runaway truck wheel on the freeway, a $7 million settlement for a bicyclist who was struck by a newspaper delivery truck, and a $7.25 million settlement for a man who was run over trying to board a city bus.

Our success in litigating and negotiating personal injury cases comes from our uncommon approach; we handle each personal injury case as though it were a complex business litigation case, attacking it from every angle possible. While our firm is located in Orange County, California, we handle serious personal injury, wrongful death and product liability cases nationwide.

If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of a car accident, please contact our California law firm for expert legal counsel.