PANAMA CITY — A Georgia man who thought a bomb was in his car when he crashed into a couple’s golf cart and seriously injured them has been sentenced to five years of probation, according to court documents.
Servando Sanchez-Uriostegui, 29, was charged with several charges following a crash on Front Beach Road near Joan Avenue that left two visitors driving a golf cart on the sidewalk in serious condition. Officers also said Sanchez-Uriostegui called in a bomb threat soon after the crash.
He was sentenced to probation Tuesday after pleading no contest to misdemeanor battery on an ambulance worker and reckless driving with serious injuries.
Florida Highway Patrol officers initially reported in August 2013 that Sanchez-Uriostegui, of Roswell, Ga., was driving a Jeep Cherokee eastbound on Front Beach at about 7:30 a.m. when he drove over a sidewalk and struck a golf cart. James Kimbrell, 61, and Rita Kimbrell, 57, both of Arley, Ala., were ejected from the golf cart before being rushed to a local hospital in serious condition.
Soon after the crash, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office received a phone call from someone claiming there was a bomb in Sanchez-Uriostegui’s vehicle. The caller told officers “there is a bomb” twice and the area was evacuated. The BSCO bomb unit and K-9 unit investigated, but deputies only found a bottle of peroxide in the vehicle.
Sanchez-Uriostegui also was seriously injured in the crash and taken to the hospital. However, as EMTs attempted to treat him on the way, Sanchez-Uriostegui grabbed one by the throat and began choking her until he was restrained.
Later at the hospital when investigators questioned Sanchez-Uriostegui about the bomb, he told them, “It’s a long story,” according to officer reports.
He initially told them someone had come and got it but eventually indicated to investigators “he was not thinking clearly and thought there was a bomb in the car,” officers reported.
Charges of false report of a bomb, no valid driver’s license and leaving the scene of an accident were consolidated in the case and the battery on an emergency worker was reduced to a misdemeanor. Sanchez-Uriostegui was sentenced to five years of probation for battery and reckless driving causing serious injury.