A New Hampton man was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for a traffic accident in which five children were injured while riding unrestrained in the back of his pickup truck.
Jimmy D. Ballard, 40, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of children during a Law Day hearing in Harrison County Circuit Court.
According to a Highway Patrol report, Trooper Joshua E. Haney was dispatched to the scene of a motor vehicle crash on 310th Street, two miles west of Route D, on June 18, 2017. The trooper was approached by a man who had blood running down his face. The man, who was identified as Ballard, said he was the driver of a Chevrolet 1500 pickup that had run off the road.
Trooper Haney said Ballard at first denied that children had been in the pickup truck, but then later admitted that they were at a nearby residence.
“Upon arriving at the residence, I observed five children who suffered various degrees of injury ranging from light to moderate abrasions,” Haney said in his probable cause statement. The children were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Circuit Judge Jack Peace sentenced Ballard to terms of four years apiece for driving while intoxicated as a persistent offender and for three counties of endangering the welfare of a child.