Main: Sparks fly as the driver of a Hummer drags a 9-year-old girl down the street in front of her family (WHIO). Left inset: Jeffrey Atkinson in bodycam footage (Law&Crime). Right inset: Ashley Escalante in a family photo aired on the news (WHIO).
An Ohio bar owner who said "f— it, I'm drunk" after dragging a 9-year-old girl for blocks in his Hummer — ripping off her leg in the process — is headed to prison.
Jeffrey Atkinson, 57, was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison, as well as a 10-year driver's license suspension, for the July 2024 hit-and-run in Dayton. He pleaded guilty last month to aggravated vehicular assault, endangering children, failure to stop after an accident and OVI in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. The judge handed down the maximum sentence.
"I forgive you," said the young victim, Ashley Escalante, who is almost 11 years old now, in court on Thursday at Atkinson's sentencing, local CBS affiliate WHIO reports. "Not because you deserve it but because my heart doesn't deserve to live full of hatred. I don't want resentment to control my life."
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Atkinson hit Ashley in front of her family as she rode bikes with a friend through a crosswalk and dragged her down the street. The crash cost the youngster her left leg below the knee.
"That day, I lived the greatest fear that a human being can feel, being on the verge of death," Ashley told Atkinson on Thursday. "Because of your act of cruelty, my life changed forever."
Bodycam footage from July 22, 2024, showed the Dayton police encountering Atkinson — the owner of Cowboys Lodi Bike Stop bar — at his business after Ashley was dragged for half a mile.
When police attempted to perform a field sobriety test, Atkinson admitted he was "too drunk to pass." He had a 0.34 BAC, well above the legal limit of 0.08.
"I don't want to die! Is this a dream?" Ashley said after being hit, according to the Dayton Daily News.
Police have said the girl's mother, among others, called 911 to say that Ashley "became caught in the wheels" and that she didn't know where she was. Video showed Ashley's father running down a sidewalk after the Hummer while he had another child in his arms.
When authorities got to Ashley, they noted that the "lower portion of her left leg, including her foot, was missing below the knee, and her right leg had significant injury as well."
Miles away, at his bar, was Atkinson.
Atkinson exiting a bar after the hit-and-run (Dayton Police).
Bodycam showed him walking out of the bar with his hands up as police asked him if he was the owner of the Hummer parked in the lot. He was wearing a black T-shirt depicting a skeleton pointing a handgun and a slogan that reads "Support Your Local Outlaws."
"Yes," he said.
After one bystander could be heard saying, "I hope you go to jail for a long time, buddy," and another said his "judgment day is coming," Atkinson appeared to respond, "I'm sorry."
He then made incriminating statements about being "impaired" and "drunk."
"Oh f— that, I'm already impaired," he said at one point. "I already know that."
"You know what? F— it, I'm drunk. I'll admit it," Atkinson said at another. "I own a bar."
Matt Naham and Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.