Driver Pleads Guilty in Crash that Killed USAF Lt. in York

By Sam Thrift Thursday, February 02, 2012

A Gloucester man was sentenced to six months in jail Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to a reckless driving charge that stemmed from a car accident that killed a Yorktown man Aug. 8.

Around 5:37 in the morning that day York County sheriff's deputies were called to a fatal two-car accident in the intersection of Route 17 and Battle Road, near the Yorktown Public Library. According to the Virginia State Police, 33-year-old Jacob Frederick Berghuis, driving a 2002 Ford Econoline, ran a red light and struck the driver’s side door of a Hyundai, sending it into the median and ditch.

When State Trooper M.L. Schatzel arrived on scene, he discovered that the driver of the Hyundai, 38-year-old Christopher P. Kaiser, died on impact. Police said Kaiser was a lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Air Force and was stationed in Norfolk. He and his wife and young children lived in Yorktown, just a few minutes from the crash site.

Berghuis was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital for treatment of his non-life-threatening injuries, according to state police.

According to York Commonwealth’s Attorney Ben Hahn, Berghuis’s blood was seized and tested after the accident and showed there was no alcohol or drugs in his system.

“If there had been blood or alcohol involved his sentencing would have had a different result,” Hahn said. “[The sentence] was the correct result of the law, but does not provide a lot of satisfaction for the parties involved.”

Berghuis was given a 12-month sentence, with six months suspended. If he breaks the rules of his probation, Berghuis will serve the whole sentence.