Sentencing Set for DUI Crash that Injured Marine

A woman who was drunk when she hit a decorated Marine from behind on his motorcycle, leaving him with critical injuries that doctors initially thought would kill him, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in a downtown courtroom.

Jessica Marie Bloom, 22, pleaded guilty two months ago to DUI and hit-and-run charges. She will be sentenced to four years and four months in state prison.

Gunnery Sgt. Dave Smith was eastbound on Bernardo Center Drive near West Bernardo Drive about 12:30 p.m. last July 31 when he was hit from behind—while waiting at a red light—by a woman driving a Chevrolet TrailBlazer.

The collision launched the 34-year-old victim onto the hood of the mid- size SUV, then into the street, Williams said.

The prosecutor said Bloom got out of the vehicle and appeared to be upset, frantically asking witnesses, "Is he dead?"

The defendant loaded her front bumper into her SUV and drove off, but witnesses followed her to her apartment a short distance away and called police, Williams said.

After her arrest, Bloom's blood-alcohol level was measured at .37 percent, more than four times the legal limit for driving, according to the prosecutor.

Defense attorney Peter Liss told a judge at Bloom's arraignment that she left the crash scene because she wanted to tell her husband, who is also a Marine, what had happened.

Bloom—who at the time had been married for eight months—might have been distraught and feeling alone because her husband was about to be deployed, Liss said.

Smith, a 17-year military veteran who was awarded a Bronze Star for valor, served four tours of duty overseas and survived being injured by a roadside bomb.

He was partially decapitated in the accident and placed on life support. Weeks later, he was released from the hospital in what doctors called a remarkable recovery.

-City News Service