US citizen jailed after leaving Worcestershire nurse unable to walk
Isac Calderon was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court today.
Last updated 7th Nov 2024
A US citizen who fled the UK after a car crash which left a mental health nurse unable to walk has been put behind bars for 32 months.
Isac Calderon appeared via a video link from HMP Sewel today for causing serious injury by driving a Honda Accord dangerously on July 31 last year.
He admitted the offence on October 10, after being extradited back to the UK from Texas.
Elizabeth Donowho, from Malvern, Worcestershire, suffered multiple fractures in the collision, including both ankles, her sternum and her right hand which she said meant she was unable to walk for six weeks after the crash.
Calderon, who was 22 at the time of the incident, left on a commercial flight to Texas on November 25 ahead of his scheduled hearing at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court, which was meant to go ahead in December.
The defendant was arrested in July, almost a year after the incident, before he appeared in court in Texas and was extradited to the UK.
Passing sentence on Calderon, Judge Martin Jackson told him: "Seven days before this accident you had bought a car and had not taken the trouble to make sure that it carried insurance.
"It was the sort of driving one expects from arrogant young boy racers. This was an appalling piece of driving."
Speaking on behalf of Elizabeth, her adviser and spokesperson Radd Seiger said: "Following the sentencing of Isaac Calderon today, Elizabeth is hugely relieved that her campaign for justice has succeeded and that this wrong has now been righted and that Mr Calderon has at long last been held accountable for his terrible actions and dangerous driving which led to the crash.
"Elizabeth feels very strongly following his arrest after the crash that there should be a full inquiry into why at the very least Mr Calderon’s passport was not seized to ensure he did not flee the country.
"West Mercia Police knew he was a flight risk particularly after the Sacoolas case and yet simply took his word that he had no plans to leave.
"Their Crime Commissioner found them to be at fault and yet to this day the police maintain they would do the same all over again, leaving victims of serious crime like me abandoned."
Jennifer Winzor, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Calderon had tried to escape justice for his action behind the wheel by fleeing the country.
In a statement following the sentencing hearing at Worcester Crown Court, the Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS West Midlands said: "We worked closely with the US authorities to make sure our extradition request progressed swiftly so that Calderon was brought back to the UK to face the consequences of his actions.
"Those who commit offences in the UK cannot simply expect to walk away without accountability, and Calderon has now been brought to justice in a UK court where he has been sentenced for his crime.
"I hope that these convictions and the sentence today provides some level of closure for all affected by this case."