We previously followed the case of former Officer Donnie Breeden, 39, who was accused of killing David Hall in a hit and run and then telling friends “I’m a cop. I can’t go to jail.” Well, he will but only for one to two years.

The fifteen-year veteran of the Crafton, Pa. police force was only arrested after a friend implicated him in a 2007 hit and run — after which Breeden and his friends repaired his car and covered up his involvement.

Breeden, therefore, not only killed a man, but fled the scene and orchestrated a cover-up. He was also accused of drinking before the accident. That makes the sentence pretty light.

The witness said that Breeden and his friends had been drinking and Hall was hit by Breeden and then two other vehicles. Investigators say that Breeden returned to the scene of the crash and asked witnesses if they saw anything.

The witness states that Breeden and his friends (who were following in other cars) fled the scene and agreed that Breeden would not turn himself in. He reportedly told them: “I’m a cop I can’t go to jail. If I go to jail I will kill myself. I’m getting out of here. No one knows I did this so I am getting out of here.”

The friends met up with Breeden two days later and repaired his car to conceal the accident. They allegedly fixed Breeden’s broken windshield, replaced a headlight, repaired a side mirror, “and attached a bug reflector to the front of the hood to help hide the dent to the right corner.”

What is curious is that there are no reported charges against the friends who helped cover up a crime. The friends actively worked to get rid of the evidence of the crash to avoid detention.

This was not the first case of notoriety for Breeden, who in 1996 was dragged by a driver down the street when his arm got caught in a stolen car when he tried to force the gear into park.

Breeden ultimately pleaded guilty in this case. The light sentence was part of a plea deal struck with prosecutors, though Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski could presumably have refused to accept it. Most states allow judges to turn down deals. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident and no contest to involuntary manslaughter.

Hall was mentally disabled and was waiting for a bus home when he crossed the street and was struck.

His body was so mangled that the coroner told his family not to come down, but instead to remember him as he was.

Defense attorney Bill Difenderfer who insisted that “a young man came out from a blindspot (into the street) and then my client made the dumbest decision of his life.”

Source: Pittsburgh