Columbus Firefighter Nick Tuttle booking photo
A man who served eight years as a Columbus firefighter who admitted he was responsible for a hit-and-run that seriously injured a 65-year-old bicyclist has received a six-year prison sentence.
Nicholas T. Tuttle, 36, who resides on Decatur County Road 500S east of Hartsville, will serve one year in prison, one year on work release, and four years on a supervised probation program for hitting Jeff Campbell’s bicycle. The sentence was handed down Thursday afternoon by Bartholomew Superior Court 2 Judge Jon Rohde.
Tuttle testified he had consumed six drinks with friends at a golf driving range to celebrate a new job on March 1, 2023. After driving home, the defendant said he wasn’t anticipating leaving his residence until his wife called and asked him to pick up their kids from her parents’ home on Wolf Creek Road.
He had already picked up the children and was on his way back home when police investigating the hit-and-run pulled Tuttle’s truck over on Columbus’ far west side about an hour after the bicycle was struck.
Testifying on his own behalf, Tuttle said he accepts the evidence indicating his passenger door mirror had struck Campbell’s bicycle as he entered the intersection of East County Road 500N and North County Road 1150E.
But Tuttle insisted he didn’t realize he had hit anything. Instead, he claims he thought the mirror was knock off by a bird, which is why he didn’t stop.
However, Tuttle told an officer his mirror was broken two years before the accident, Rohde said. And after Tuttle said black scuff marks on his truck were caused by paint from his son’s bicycle, the boy said with the officer present that his bike is orange, the judge said.
“If you didn’t know you hit someone, why did you lie?” Rohde asked the defendant. “I don’t believe you when you say you didn’t know.”
Campbell, who sustained a broken hip and broken elbow in the crash, sat in the courtroom and nodded calmly as Tuttle offered him his apologies. The victim has chosen not to seek restitution for his medical bills or other expenses.
In addition, Tuttle received a substantial benefit in his plea agreement, Rohde said. The defendant was originally charged with leaving the scene of an accident as a Level 3 felony; causing serious bodily injury while operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a Level 5 felony; and endangering a person less than 18 years as a Level 6 felony.
If found guilty on all three charges, Rohde could have handed down an over 23-year prison sentence, as well as levied fines of up to $30,000.
Instead,Tuttle accepted a plea agreement on Feb.29 that allowed him to plead guilty to only one charge: causing serious bodily injury when operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a Level 5 felony. With all other charges dropped, the potential sentence became one to six years.
One fact in the case that the judge said was especially troubling to him was that Tuttle had been an emergency medical technician who responded to more than 100 accidents that were caused by alcohol.
“He knew better,” the judge said. “He made this decision.”
