ATLANTA — At her sentencing hearing on Friday, former Atlanta Police officer Dejoira Philips confirmed her guilty plea and apologized to Lisa Williams, the woman whose arm needed to be amputated after Phillips ran a red light and crashed into her in 2018.
"I'm sincerely sorry for what happened," Phillips said. "It was a complete accident, never meant to happen."
Phillips will avoid jail time with a plea agreement reached with prosecutors. She got 10 years of probation and will not be allowed to work as an officer again for five years.
She must volunteer with amputee support groups for at least 100 hours in a given year and has to pay restitution of up to $200 dollars a month to Williams.
Back in Feb. 2018, police say Phillips ran a red light as she traveled westbound on Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. through the intersection of Peeples Street, crashing into Williams as she traveled north and had the green light.
Williams' left arm had to be amputated.
11Alive's La'Tasha Givens spoke with Williams and her attorneys after the hearing.
"I didn’t have a chance," Williams said. "Without no sirens, without no flashing lights, I didn’t even have a chance to avoid this accident. I have a permanent sentence made, that is the loss of my arm, that will never come back that has traumatically changed my life."
Williams received a settlement of $500,000 from the City of Atlanta.
But after fees and other charges, Williams says she was left with $250,000, while her prosthetic arm is over $90,000 and she still has a bill from Grady Hospital of over $36,000.
That still doesn't include the loss of income from not being able to work in her field and lifelong medical treatment that awaits.
"I will never work in the capacity that I want to again," she said. "I will never work to be the safety manager because you need two arms."
Williams' attorneys said changes need to be made when it comes to how much victims can sue.