Injuring cop, DUI nets year in jail | Victim sought harsh sentence for woman convicted in wreck

Bill Callahan. The San Diego Union – Tribune. San Diego, Calif.: Dec 19, 1998. pg. B.1

They were both in their 20s and so alike in their aspirations to serve society.

Daniel Toneck was a young police officer protecting the public. Monica Thayer was on the verge of becoming a high school teacher. Those ambitions were dashed, at least for the near future, when a drunken Thayer smashed her car into Toneck in August, injuring him so badly his left leg was amputated at the knee.

Yesterday, another tragic chapter in the history of drunken- driving cases came to a dramatic close in a packed San Diego courtroom, where Thayer was sentenced to a one-year jail term.

Gasping for breath and appearing on the verge of collapse, the Pacific Beach woman faced the injured officer and tearfully acknowledged that expressing her remorse would never make him whole.

“I understand if you can’t accept an apology and I accept that,” Thayer said. “But it’s all I can offer. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

A few minutes earlier, the 29-year-old Toneck held up the prosthesis he has struggled to master since the Aug. 13 accident, and detailed his battle to rehabilitate himself and win his job back.

“I hate it,” he said, lifting up the artificial limb. “I would not choose this life for anyone.”

Toneck was pinned against his patrol car at 1:24 a.m., when Thayer’s Ford Festiva slammed into him while he was investigating a traffic accident on Grand Avenue just west of Ingraham Street.

The son of a police officer, Toneck had been with the San Diego department for eight years and was praised widely by fellow officers for his dedication and his creativity in handling traffic investigations.

“I’m not ready to take this uniform off, but I’m going to have to if I can’t get back in a year,” he said.

He told Superior Court Judge Charles Patrick his adjustment to the prosthesis will be delayed by at least two more surgeries.

The 27-year-old Thayer, who pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to drunken driving, also is from a law enforcement family. Her father retired after 30 years on the force in Ventura and her mother is a crime analyst.

Thayer admitted drinking several beers on the beach the afternoon before the accident and then drinking more during an evening of bar- hopping. With a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, she got behind the wheel of her car.

“I never really considered whether I was too impaired to drive even though now I know I should have known better,” she wrote in a letter filed with the court.

“I was listening to the stereo. I remember all of a sudden skidding and trying to stop, but I didn’t stop in time and I hit officer Toneck.”

Thayer was one semester from earning her teaching credential at San Diego State University. Her lawyer, Steven Feldman, urged the judge to fashion a sentence that would allow Thayer to donate her time and skills to educating students about the dangers of drunken driving.

“This is a case in which a split second has forever affected two lives,” Feldman said. “She has talents and is truly remorseful. I ask you to make something positive out of the tragedy before you.”

Prosecutor Gregory Kimmel, Toneck and Toneck’s family demanded a prison term. Kimmel requested a five-year sentence, urging the judge to send a message, particularly during the holiday season when drinking and driving is frequent.

“If you send her to prison, the public will sit up and take notice,” Kimmel said. “The bottom line is that the only way to stop people from drinking and driving is to punish them severely.”

Patrick noted the intense public interest in the case, which prompted about 150 letters, and he took great pains to explain the state’s sentencing laws.

Toneck’s injuries are serious and permanent, he said, but he pointed out the legal standard of balancing the mutilation with Thayer’s background and the fact she had no criminal record and no intent to injure the officer.

Those circumstances mandated a one-year jail term rather than a prison sentence, Patrick said.

Four years ago, another judge imposed the same punishment on a prominent La Jolla surgeon who maimed two police officers in a drunken-driving accident near Del Mar.

Patrick said the overwhelming number of letters to him favored a prison term because the victim was a police officer.

“I wonder what would have happened had it been a homeless person pushing a shopping cart across the street,” he said. “I doubt I would have received a single letter.”

By law, the judge said, he was prohibited from attaching greater weight to the crime because Toneck was the victim.

“Every human being must be treated exactly the same,” Patrick said.

In response to the prosecutor’s suggestion that he send a message with the sentence, Patrick questioned whether harsher punishments deter crime. He described himself as a steadfast supporter of the death penalty during 24 years as a prosecutor and 11 as a judge.

“But is it a deterrent?” he said. “People could debate that endlessly and never reach agreement.”
[Illustration]
2 PICS; Caption: 1. Apology: Monica Thayer broke down yesterday after addressing the man she hit while driving drunk. (B-3:7; B-4:6; B- 6:1) 2. Victims: San Diego police Officer Daniel Toneck paused as his sister Jennifer (left), grandmother Moudean Childress and mother, Judy, consoled one another outside court after sentencing for a drunken driver who injured Toneck. (B-3:7; B-4:6; B-6:1; B- 5:3,5) [1,2. NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune photos]

Credit: STAFF WRITER