On April 20, 2022, Naimo Abdirahman, 30, was crossing the street in the area of Morse Road and Walford Street when she was hit by a vehicle that fled the scene. The car that had hit her and then fled belonged to Columbus PD Detective Demetris Ortega.
Ortega, 51, had been drinking and was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the hit-and-run crash.
Ortega was indicted on 1 felony charge of “failure to stop after an accident” and a misdemeanor charge of “operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them.” He was relieved of duty shortly after the crash happened. No charges whatsoever for the vehicular homicide.
He had once before been charged and suspended in 2015 after being involved in another crash while drunk. The Columbus Division of Police disclosed that he had been involved in an off-duty crash on Aug. 22, 2015 with resulting OVI charges and being suspended from work that day.
Ortega had a breathalyzer test and had a blood-alcohol level of .134%. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 9, 2016, according to records. He was fined lightly at $375 and given one-year probation and at some point, he was returned back to duty only to kill Naimo Abdirahman in yet another DUI crash in 2022.
For this second and now fatal DUI crash, he pleaded not guilty but was sentenced on November 3, 2023 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and given a sentence of 18 months. He will have his driver’s license suspended for three years and will also be monitored for a maximum of two years after he serves his sentence. It is unclear how much of the 18 months he will actually have to serve. Suspension of his drivers’ license for any length of time may not be effective if he regains a license and continues drinking and driving. Addiction treatment would likely be much more successful than mere punishment.
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