A 22-year-old driver who admitted to drinking tequila and using cocaine, then striking a Portland police officer along a Southeast Portland road was sentenced to two days in jail.

Officer Andrew Brooks was knocked to the pavement and suffered deep bruising to his legs and hips when Carlos Francisco Zamora sideswiped him.

Zamora’s blood alcohol content registered .15 %, nearly double the legal limit for driving of .08 %. Zamora also admitted that he had been using cocaine and partying, said Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet.

“This case could have been much worse,” Overstreet said. “Mr. Zamora is extremely lucky that he didn’t kill that police officer.”

Brooks and other officers had responded to an unrelated call about an unruly patron at a hookah lounge near the 12400 block of Southeast Powell Boulevard on May 26 shortly before 3 a.m., investigators said. Brooks was walking back to his patrol car, which was parked in the street with its red-and-blue emergency lights flashing, when he saw Zamora coming, authorities said.

The officer tried to avoid getting hit by pressing his body against the side of his parked car, but Zamora’s 1994 Honda Accord struck him with its sideview mirror, according to a probable cause affidavit

Brooks crawled a short way to get out of the road. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment, then released hours later.

Overstreet said “there was a lot of police officers there, lights were on” and Zamora should have slowed down and used caution.

Zamora said in court that he had driven about two blocks before stopping -- he said because it took him a few seconds to realize what had happened. But police officers who chased his car believed he stopped because he was responding to their lights and sirens pursuing him.

Zamora pleaded guilty to hit-and-run driving causing injury and driving under the influence of intoxicants. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Kelly Skye sentenced Zamora to the recommended term under state guidelines: two days in jail and three years of probation.

Zamora had no previous criminal history, according to defense attorney Alan Biedermann.

“I’m just really sorry,” Zamora said. “... It was one of those nights that, you know, alcohol gets you. Drugs get you, too.”

Zamora said he apologized after officers arrested him and he feels for the officer he struck.

“Because I know he, like, he has a family,” Zamora told the judge. “He has a home to go. ... I will not do it again.”

The judge said she was still concerned that an alcohol monitoring anklet that Zamora was ordered to wear detected that he used alcohol multiple times over the Labor Day weekend. She said he needs treatment.

“This is a serious case,” Skye said. “And had the officer died, you would definitely be looking at prison time, likely 10 years. If that doesn’t scare you sober, I don’t know what else will.”

The judge ordered Zamora to undergo an alcohol abuse evaluation and get any treatment that’s ordered. His driver’s license will be suspended for a year, he must comply with random urine tests and he must wear an alcohol detection anklet until his probation officer tells him he can stop.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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