GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former Kent County prosecutor who was given special treatment by Grand Rapids police after a crash two years ago will spend a couple days in jail.
Josh Kuiper was tried on a felony charge of reckless driving causing serious injury in October, but a jury found him guilty only of a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.
The sentence delivered Wednesday is less than what Kuiper could have gotten for the November 2016 wrong-way crash that injured a man, but the prosecutor still says he was treated unfairly.
After attending a party for a retiring prosecutor, Kuiper was driving the wrong way down a one-way street when he crashed into a parked car, injuring Daniel Empson.
Kuiper was not given a breathalyzer test, even though the first officer on the scene said it was obvious Kuiper had been drinking. Instead of taking him to jail, police drove Kuiper home.
During Kuiper’s sentencing Wednesday, a judge called attention to the circumstances.
“This court does recognize that you should have spent, and would have spent under normal circumstances, a night in jail on Nov. 19, 2016 like anyone else in the same situation,” said Kent County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Rossi.
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