Driver sentenced in DUI crash involving off-duty Erie officer

This article was published on GoErie.com by Madeleine O’Neill on Jan. 10, 2018

An Edinboro man received electronic monitoring Wednesday at his sentencing for striking the car of an off-duty Erie police officer moments after the officer was involved in a fatal DUI crash in McKean Township in February.

Danny C. Hamilton, 36, will spend 30 days on electronic monitoring and another five months on probation following the hearing. He was also fined $1,000 on the misdemeanor count of DUI he pleaded guilty to, along with two summary offenses, in November.

The sentence, from Erie County Judge John Garhart, was in the standard range of state sentencing guidelines.

Pennsylvania State Police charged that Hamilton was drunk on Feb. 18 when his Hyundai Elantra crashed into another vehicle on Route 99 moments after the vehicle had been involved in a two-car crash that killed 57-year-old Wade A. Schulze.

Off-duty Erie police officer Cheryl Frey, who was driving the vehicle Hamilton hit, was charged by state police with causing the crash involving Schulze.

Frey pleaded guilty on Aug. 1 to a second-degree felony count of homicide by vehicle while DUI and to a misdemeanor count of DUI. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years and six months in prison and $30,000 in fines at her sentencing, which is currently scheduled for Jan. 23.

Frey remains on suspension without pay from the Erie Bureau of Police, where she has worked since 2008.

Hamilton was ordered Wednesday to take DUI classes and abstain from drinking alcohol. His blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was 0.204 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to information presented in court.

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