ORLANDO, Fla. – The man who ran down and badly injured an Orlando police officer was sentenced to prison time and probation Thursday.
Edward Kelty, who was 17 at the time, struck Officer William Anderson with his car in 2015, after Anderson pulled Kelty over while responding to a call of shots fired.
Dash camera video from the incident shows Anderon approaching the driver's side of the car. As he approaches, the passenger runs from the vehicle and the moment of impact is seen Kelty striking Anderson with the vehicle.
The video also shows Anderson fired his gun three times as he hit the ground, police said. Anderson was injured so badly that he had to retire from the police force.
At the sentencing, Anderson described the incident to the court and detailed his life-changing injuries.
"The defendant has sentenced me and my family to a lifetime of pain and suffering," Anderson said.
His wife also spoke at the sentencing.
"We waited several long days and nights praying he would not die, praying I would not be a widow and my daughter would not lose her father," she said.
Edward Kelty also testified, at one point describing how he thought Anderson was going to shoot him.
"I was scared," Kelty said. "I've seen previous videos with the same situation as mine."
Kelty went on to say, in a letter addressed to Anderson,
"I want to apologize and ask forgiveness for my mistake."
Kelty was sentenced to 18 years in prison and 12 years of probation. He pleaded no contest to aggravated manslaughter charges the day his trial was set to begin. He
was facing up to life in prison.
After the sentencing, Anderson appeared relieved.
"His verdict was more than fair," he said. "I wanted more than 20 years, and he gave him a total of 30 with probation. I was not expecting that, so that was the icing on the cake."
Several members of Kelty's family were seen leaving the courtroom, many of them in tears.
"Yes, they're going to be suffering for 30 years, but we're suffering for a lifetime," Anderson said.