Oahu man sentenced for driving into group of teens

HONOLULU — A man convicted of intentionally driving into a group of people leaving a party at an Oahu beach has been sentenced to 18 months.

Malik Morton was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in July to charges of assault, attempted assault and terroristic threatening.

Prosecutors had dropped a first-degree attempted murder charge in exchange for his guilty plea.

Morton accelerated his car into a crowd at Ewa Beach in May 2016, leaving two people injured, prosecutors said.

A 17-year-old boy was hospitalized after receiving abrasions and contusions, according to court documents.

The encounter critically injured Alisha Brown, causing skull and face fractures and collapsed lungs. She was placed in a medically-induced coma for more than a month.

At the sentencing hearing, Brown addressed Morton, telling him the encounter changed her.

“At that moment and a long time after, you killed me,” Brown said. “You took away everything meaningful to me. You took away my ability to breathe on my own, to speak, to move my body, to open my eyes, to think or even remember my mom and dad’s names.”

Brown was walking with a group of people and was thrown into the air by Morton’s silver Hyundai.

“I think Malik Morton has to serve additional time to really understand the crime he committed and the immense suffering he caused to me and my family,” Brown told the court. “He stole my memories and changed my life forever.”

Morton is expected to be released in two months for credit from time served.

“Alisha Brown, I apologize to you from the bottom of my heart,” Morton said at the hearing. “I never intended to hurt you. I pray for you every day. I have changed your life and I apologize for that.”

Morton was also ordered to pay $113,000 in restitution to the victims.