BAY CITY, MI -- Two years ago, a Michigan State Police lieutenant drunkenly crashed into a motorcycle, inflicting life-altering injuries on the woman riding it.

Facing him in court, the woman said it was no accident he got behind the wheel while intoxicated, but that his arrogance assured him he wouldn't face repercussions even if his fellow officers pulled him over.

Hilary A. Briggs read from a statement she penned during the April 5 sentencing hearing of Jason T. Teddy. The hearing, presided over by Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill, arrived one month shy of the second anniversary of the collision that brought Teddy and Briggs before the court.

"Mr. Teddy, I've been sitting across the courtroom watching you, appearing all contrite," Briggs told the seated defendant, before he learned he would spend three months in jail. "This was not a mistake you made. It was intentional. You knowingly drove drunk that night. Why would you do that? We both know it was because if you were pulled over, no cop in Bay County would arrest you."

Briggs suffered injuries to her legs and pelvis, as well as three brain bleeds, she said. She spent months between a hospital and rehabilitation facility, she added.

"It seemed I had morphed into a 90-year-old woman for months, feeling helpless and dependent on everyone else," she said.

Saying she has lost some faith in the court system, Briggs asked Judge Gill to hold Teddy to a higher standard and set an example to the public.

Teddy declined to speak. Defense attorney Mark S. Mackley asked for leniency on his client's behalf.

"This is a situation where nobody wins," he said. "My client is here taking responsibility for his actions. He has never minimized his conduct. He's never shirked his responsibility. He's never hid. He does, however, have a past that deserves at least some consideration from this court."

Mackley went on to say that in addition to his 20-year career with the state police, Teddy is a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army and National Guard and served two tours of duty in Iraq. Teddy received two Bronze Star Medals and numerous other awards, Mackley said.

Teddy's years of service and accolades were not mentioned to elicit special consideration from the judge, Mackley said.

"It's simply an example of a good man making a bad decision one night," he said.

Gill spoke solemnly in delivering his sentence.

"Mr. Teddy is a citizen who has an unblemished record who served with distinction in the U.S. Army," he said. "The court is required to hold people accountable for their actions. Even though this is a tragedy for Mr. Teddy as well as Miss Briggs, it is the responsibility of the court to impose a sentence commensurate with what happened and the circumstances surrounding it."

The judge imposed a sentence of 93 days in jail, but gave Teddy until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19, to report to the Bay County Jail.

Once Teddy has served his sentence, he's to serve 18 months' probation. The judge held an additional 180 days in abeyance, meaning Teddy will only have to serve them if he violates his probation.

Gill also ordered Teddy to pay a $500 fine and $1,518.47 in restitution to Briggs.

Case background

Teddy twice accepted plea offers in the case. The first was in January 2016, when he pleaded no contest to operating while intoxicated causing serious injury, a five-year felony. The agreement stated if Teddy stayed out of trouble until his August sentencing, he'd be allowed to withdraw his plea and plead to two misdemeanors.

When that sentencing hearing came around, Judge Gill rejected the plea on the grounds that it didn't meet the best interests of justice. Teddy entered his second plea a year after his first, in January 2017. At that time, he pleaded no contest to single counts of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and aggravated assault, both misdemeanors. Prosecutors dismissed the five-year felony.

In pleading no contest, Teddy did not verbally admit to having committed a crime. Gill had to rely on police reports contained in court files to enter convictions on the record.

Those reports state Teddy was involved in a traffic crash at 11:42 p.m. on May 2, 2015, in Bangor Township. Teddy was driving a 1999 Lexus on State Park Drive near Pembroke Road when he struck a 2007 Honda motorcycle from behind. Briggs, 29 at the time, was thrown from her bike and landed in the road.

An ambulance transported Briggs to Bangor Fire Station 7. From there, a helicopter airlifted her to St. Mary's of Michigan Medical Center in Saginaw.

Teddy told responding Bay County Sheriff's deputies he and a friend were talking in the Lexus when the motorcycle suddenly appeared before them. Teddy went on to tell deputies he had two to three tall beers earlier in the night and didn't feel intoxicated.

Teddy submitted to a Breathalyzer test, which indicated his blood alcohol level was at 0.153 percent, police reports state. In Michigan, a person is legally intoxicated when their blood alcohol level is at 0.08.

Deputies arrested Teddy at the scene and transported him to the Bay County Jail.

Deputies interviewed Briggs in the hospital. She said she also had consumed a few drinks earlier in the night and was heading to a house on Pembroke when the crash occurred.

Briggs' blood alcohol level as of 2:50 a.m. was 0.047 percent, court records show.

Defense attorney Mackley previously said that a crash reconstructionist hired by the defense concluded Teddy's intoxication level did not cause the collision.

Teddy was placed on unpaid suspension immediately after his superiors learned of the crash, according to Special 1st Lt. David Kaiser. He has since retired.

In the crash's wake, Bay County prosecutors issued criminal charges against Teddy. Then-Bay County Prosecutor Kurt C. Asbury then filed a motion with the Michigan Attorney General's Office, asking that his office be disqualified from the case and that a special prosecutor be appointed. State Attorney General Bill Schuette on May 12, 2015, granted Asbury's request and appointed Isabella County Prosecutor Risa Hunt-Scully to the case.

Hunt-Scully is married to Michigan State Police Trooper Douglas Hunt.

A few weeks after her appointment, Hunt-Scully sought to disqualify her office from the case. Schuette granted her request and appointed the Gratiot County Prosecutor's Office to handle the matter.