http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1209956116209860.xml&coll=7
Rider risks prison term to keep beloved Harley
Hit and run - A homeless man gets 15 months instead of a three-month
deal that required giving up his bike
Monday, May 05, 2008
AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian Staff
William Richard Brooks II loved his Harley-Davidson motorcycle so much
he wasn't willing to part with it, even if that meant risking a stretch
in prison.
So when a prosecutor offered him a plea deal with only three months in
jail for a hit and run -- providing that he give up his motorcycle as
restitution -- he turned it down.
"Because that's the last thing on earth I own," Brooks said.
But last week Brooks learned he'd lost his gamble when a Multnomah
County Circuit Court judge sentenced him to 15 months behind bars for
smashing into another motorcyclist and leaving the scene of the accident.
Brooks, 51, struck motorcyclist Craig Sample, 37, on July 30 as Sample
slowed to make a turn in the 18900 block of Northeast Marine Drive in
Gresham. The impact injured Sample's back and caused more than $3,000 in
damage to his bike.
Brooks, who had no insurance, stopped at first, then fled as a crowd
gathered. Someone wrote down Brooks' license plate, but it took Gresham
police a few months to track him down because Brooks was homeless and
had enlisted a friend to hide his bike for him, according to prosecutor
Christine Mascal.
Mascal said she was willing to offer Brooks 90 days in jail because she
wanted to be sure Sample would recover his losses. Brooks bought his
bike for $6,500 from a Baker City couple shortly before the accident,
and that would have come close to covering the damages.
Speaking from the Justice Center jail after his sentencing hearing
Friday, Brooks admitted he made a mistake by fleeing the scene of the
accident.
"I made sure he wasn't bleeding and he hadn't broken any bones or
anything, and I took off," Brooks said.
Brooks said he left because he was worried he might lose his bike, a
brilliant blue 2002 Harley-Davidson 1200 Custom -- the bike he always
dreamed of owning.
The bike, Brooks said, was the way out of a dark spell in his life. He
said his wife died of cancer in 2002, he'd lost his house in Stevenson,
Wash., because he couldn't make payments, and he'd spiraled into using
drugs.
He said the Harley would allow him to restart work as a heavy machinery
operator. Having it as transportation was more important than having a
home. Brooks was camping along the Columbia River around the time he
bought the bike in May 2007.
A few months later, he crashed into Sample. Police eventually tracked
him down, and Mascal, the prosecutor, offered him the deal in March.
Brooks, who was represented by court-appointed attorney Michael Rees,
pleaded no contest to hit-and-run but requested a pre-sentence
investigation.
A sheriff's office employee would recommend his punishment, in part,
based on his previous criminal history, which included drug and theft
convictions. Brooks figured the recommended sentence would be lighter
than the prosecutor's offer.
But last week, the report came back, and the author recommended 15
months in prison, which is the term listed under Oregon's sentencing
guidelines. On Friday, Judge Youlee You saw no reason not to follow the
recommendation.
You also ordered Brooks to pay $7,300 in restitution. But that doesn't
mean he'll have to sell his Harley. He'll be allowed to come up with the
money some other way.
"Am I sad it worked out the way it did? Yeah," said Brooks, who claims
his lawyer gave him bad advice. "But would I throw the dice again for my
Harley? Yeah. Yup. Yup. Yes, I would."
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> Harley? Yeah. Yup. Yup. Yes, I would."