VISTA - A drunken driver who fled from a Carlsbad police officer and crashed into a truck, then jumped into a lagoon where he tried to drown a police dog, was sentenced Friday to seven years and four months in prison.
Al Breon McKiernan, 23, was convicted last month of felony DUI causing great bodily injury, felony evading, felony hit-and-run causing great bodily injury and a misdemeanor count of harming a police dog.
He was sentenced by Vista Superior Court Judge Timothy Casserly.
Officers said they were patrolling about 1 a.m. Jan. 25 when they saw a silver Pontiac nearly hit several pedestrians in a parking lot.
When officers tried to pull him over, McKiernan sped off and hit a truck at Carlsbad Boulevard and State Street before running into the Buena Vista Lagoon.
An Oceanside police officer who had joined in the search for the suspect released his police dog, and McKiernan struck the canine in the head and tried to push the animal underwater.
McKiernan's blood-alcohol level was measured at .14 percent two hours after the crash. A sheriff's crime lab specialist calculated the defendant's blood-alcohol level to be .16 percent at the time of the collision.
When McKiernan was arrested, he had his brother's driver's license in his pocket, leading authorities to believe that his name was Lavar Toosweet McKiernan.
Fingerprints taken from the defendant came back under the name Al Breon McKiernan, the prosecutor said.
