Injured sheriff’s deputy pulled drunken driver from wreckage in Wichita DUI crash

The unconscious, drunken driver who was pulled from his wrecked vehicle by the deputy he injured in an east Wichita DUI crash last year has been sentenced to just over three years in state prison.

Gregory Bradfield, 40, of Navajo, New Mexico, was sentenced by Judge Terry Pullman on Tuesday to 38 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections, the district attorney’s office said. He previously pleaded guilty in Sedgwick County District Court to two counts of aggravated battery while driving under the influence.

Bradfield was accused of crashing into the back of a parked Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle, injuring the deputy who was conducting a late-night traffic stop of another vehicle, according to court documents. The hurt deputy pulled an unconscious and bloody Bradfield from the wreckage and dragged him to the side of the road, falling multiple times from his own injuries. He then performed first aid until paramedics arrived and took them both to hospitals.

Deputy Nicholas Wohler has returned to work, but has not been placed back in patrol duties due to his injuries from the crash, a sheriff’s office spokesman said. The sheriff’s office had previously said Wohler suffered a broken leg, but court documents show he had surgery for a hip labral tear.

Bradfield’s public defender asked the court to grant him probation, even though Kansas sentencing guidelines show a presumptive prison sentence. The defense attorney told the court he intends to appeal the sentence.

Bradfield previously served six months in jail after a 2000 DUI conviction in Sedgwick County, court documents state . He also has prior convictions for minor in possession of alcohol in 1998, pedestrian under the influence in 2005 and marijuana possession in 2007.

An affidavit filed in court details the most recent case against Bradfield. The document, written by a sheriff’s detective, details the legal justification for arresting and charging a suspect.

Deputy Wohler had pulled over a Volkswagon Jetta at around 11:51 p.m. April 28, 2018, for a headlight that was out, according to the affidavit. The traffic stop was on Harry Street between Webb and Greenwich. Just before midnight, as Wohler stood by the Jetta, he “heard the sound of an engine revving, then the sound of a vehicle striking the rear of his patrol car.”

The patrol car was “coming at him,” and then the patrol vehicle’s bumper struck the right side of his body, running over his foot and briefly pinning him. The patrol vehicle then crashed into the parked car that had been pulled over.

The deputy saw blood on the windshield of the the vehicle that had crashed and blood coming out of the driver’s mouth and nose. The driver, identified as Bradfield, appeared to be unconscious. Wohler used his baton to break Bradfield’s window. He wasn’t able to feel a pulse.

A member of the Citizen’s Police Academy had been doing a ride-along with Wohler and was in the patrol vehicle at the time of the crash. Wohler asked his passenger to direct traffic around the scene of the crash as he worked to free Bradfield from the wreckage.

Wohler moved to Bradfield’s passenger side because he “was concerned about being struck again by additional traffic on the roadway.” He broke the window, but couldn’t open the door due to damage from the crash. He went back to the driver’s side, where he was able to get Bradfield out of his wrecked vehicle.

Wohler took Bradfield off the roadway, falling two or three times due to his own injuries. On the side of the road, the deputy established an airway and found a pulse.

A second deputy and paramedics who spoke with Bradfield heard him say that he drank “way too (expletive) much,” specifying that he drank multiple beers, the affidavit states. He had a blood alcohol concentration of .278, or nearly three times the legal limit .08 in Kansas.

The ride-along passenger refused treatment at the scene, opting to see a family doctor. The driver of the Jetta was not injured. The 2017 Ford SUV patrol vehicle was listed as a total loss of over $21,000.

This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 5:28 PM.