Keith Dillon sentenced to 6-12 years for DWI crash that injured Nassau Police Officer Willard Gomes

A New Hyde Park man was sentenced on Wednesday to 6 to 12 years in prison for hitting and seriously injuring a Nassau County police officer while driving drunk.

Keith Dillon, 33, who is a Coast Guard veteran, showed no reaction as Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink announced the sentence. He also declined to give a statement in court before sentencing.

Outside the courthouse in Mineola, Willard Gomes said the crash four years ago left him with so many injuries he will be unable to continue his dream of being a police officer.

But he also said he was willing to forgive Dillon.

“I do feel sorry for him,” Gomes told reporters. “He doesn’t look well. “

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said that Dillon had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, and was also impaired by Xanax. He was driving 70 mph in a pickup truck when he barreled into the officers parked unmarked car on a center median.

Dillon never stepped on the brakes, the district attorney said.

She called Gomes a hero who continues to recover from his injuries.

“You are an inspiration to us all, “she told Gomes at the news conference.

The crash in Greenvale about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2018, happened as Gomes was working a New Year’s DWI patrol. Dillon drove his Dodge Ram onto the center median on Glen Cove Road before hitting Gomes’s unmarked patrol car head-on, according to authorities.

Gomes, then a 12-year police force veteran, suffered a brain bleed, a broken vertebra in his neck, a shattered elbow, a broken leg, an orbital bone fracture and the loss of several teeth in the wreck.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said on Wednesday that he received a call at home shortly after the accident and rushed to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.

He said he beat the ambulance there — not because he was speeding, but because it took rescue crews so long to extricate Gomes from his crushed vehicle.

At the hospital, “We stood by his bedside. We were wondering if Will was going to survive. And that’s when prayers take over.”

Ryder said it was remarkable Gomes was able to forgive Dillon.

“There’s not a better man that I’ve ever met than Will Gomes,” Ryder said. “This individual here and his family went through hell, and Will can still forgive. That says a lot for the man.”

Donnelly used the case as an example of why people should not drink and drive.

“In this day and age … there is no excuse for drinking and driving,” she said. “It’s not worth it. You can ruin your life and ruin the life of someone else.”

Dillon admitted his guilt In late September as jury selection was about to begin in a trial that was set to go forward after an appellate court threw out his previous conviction in the case.

Dillon pleaded guilty to felony charges of aggravated vehicular assault and assault, and a misdemeanor drunken driving charge, in a plea bargain that includes a prison term of 6 to 12 years.

The defendant also admitted a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence after recently refusing to let authorities collect a sample of his DNA.

Gomes said on Wednesday the crash has permanently altered his future.

“I’m progressing slowly but I still need more surgeries,” he said.

Two years ago when he spoke at the courthouse, “I was still optimistic that I would make a full recovery to return to full duty as a police officer. Unfortunately, my injuries are not going to get me to a place where I can return. So I am going to retire.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, noting he emigrated to the United States from India in 1977 at age 16. “Even growing up as a child I wanted to be in law enforcement.”