_{Thumbnail photo: Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper struck Grants Pass resident Megan Postma at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 near Crescent City on April 19 and continued driving. | Photo by Heather Polen}

A Del Norte County judge on Thursday rejected a probation officer’s recommendation to let Randy Hooper’s felony DUI causing injury charge stand, deciding to follow a plea agreement offered to the defendant by the state Attorney General’s Office.

If Hooper lives up to the terms of the plea deal, his charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor, said attorney Keith Morris, who was designated as deputy attorney general for the case. But the judge told Hooper to expect to do some jail time — up to 90 days — when his sentence is reviewed in March, Morris told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“He will serve some time in jail,” Morris said. “The judge followed the plea bargain we extended.”

Hooper’s victim, Grants Pass resident Megan Postma, says that though she doesn’t want restitution and she doesn’t want him jailed, Hooper should still be convicted of a felony.

“I’m six years sober from alcohol, and I hit my rock bottom,” Postma said. “Thankfully I didn’t cause harm to anybody else, just myself, but it’s important that he understands the weight of what happened and the fact that he and I — neither of us — could be here right now.”

Hooper, who is Del Norte County’s assistant county administrative officer, pleaded no contest to felony DUI causing injury on Oct. 9 in connection with a collision that occurred near Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 at about 10 p.m. April 19. 

A charge of hit and run against Hooper was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, according to the defendant’s attorney, George Mavris.

As part of the plea deal, Hooper will be required to finish the Humboldt Addiction Services Program (HASP) for DUI offenders and attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week through March 6, when he returns to court for sentencing, Morris said.

Probation officers from Trinity County asked Follett to reject the plea agreement and sentence Hooper to three years felony probation and 90 days in jail. In a pre-sentencing report submitted Wednesday, Chief Probation Officer Ruby Fierro and her deputies Josh Hamilton and Andrea Wheeler state that under California vehicle code, the defendant must serve at least five days in county jail.

The probation officers stated that while Hooper expressed remorse, recently received a six-month sobriety chip from AA and completed a first-offender DUI program, the severity of the offense warranted a more substantial penalty.

“Although the defendant is accepting responsibility for his actions and taking the necessary steps to move forward, there are still consequences for his conduct and formal felony probation supervision will hold the defendant accountable,” the report stated. “The defendant placed the safety of his community at risk and permanently altered the victim’s life.”

Postma, who had accompanied her husband to Elk Valley Casino on April 19 since he was the audio engineer for the Canaan Smith concert, was returning to their hotel. As she traveled down Sand Mine Road toward the highway, she passed two patrol cars headed for the casino with their lights flashing. She said she felt the impact to the rear passenger side of her car when she reached the stop sign at U.S. 101.

Postma estimated that Hooper was traveling about 45 mph when he struck her, “didn’t even attempt to brake” and pushed her out onto the highway. She said Hooper’s vehicle ended up in front of hers and instead of staying at the scene when she had pulled over, the defendant continued northbound on U.S. 101 “with sparks flying.”

Despite the collision, Postma said she could still operate her car. With adrenaline surging, she followed Hooper while dialing 911. She said she was sure that Hooper would have continued driving if it weren’t for the damage to his own vehicle.

“He either didn’t realize he hit me or he knew what he did and he was trying to get away,” she said. “This is the second time I’ve been hit by a drunk driver and it’s not the first time I’ve been involved in a hit and run either. I was raised by a man who looked at a crisis and said, ‘we just handle it,’ so I’m not an overly emotional person. I don’t panic.”

According to a report from California Highway Patrol Officer Edgar Anaya, Hooper’s vehicle became disabled about 900 feet away from the collision near the Crescent Beach Motel. 

A preliminary alcohol screening test showed Hooper to have a blood alcohol level of 0.198%, however an analysis of a blood sample taken at Sutter Coast Hospital showed his blood alcohol level to be at 0.225%, nearly three times the legal limit, according to the probation officer’s recommendation and report.

Postma had pre-existing injuries from a previous drunk driving collision that occurred about 15 years ago — her “whole right foot is hardware” and she suffers from complex regional pain syndrome.

Following the April 19 incident, Postma immediately began experiencing foot and shoulder pain, but instead of being taken to Sutter Coast Hospital by ambulance, she and her husband decided to drive home.

“As we were driving to Grants Pass, all of a sudden out of nowhere, my pinky and my ring finger started tingling and it started creeping up my arm to my elbow,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s my spinal cord, it’s something brain-related, let’s get it checked out.’”

Postma, whose medical history includes degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis as well as a cyst on her spinal cord, said the hospital determined there was no new muscular-skeletal damage. But they put her in a cervical collar and, after consulting with her neurosurgeon, decided she was OK to go home.

The next day, Postma said, her right wrist began to give out — once when she pulled bacon from the oven and then when she tried to put her hair up into a ponytail. The numbness and tingling from the evening before persisted, so she asked for a followup with her neurosurgeon.

“She thought I had ulnar compression and scheduled … an EMG test, a carpal tunnel test, which did show I have ulnar compression — essentially the ulnar nerve was compressed and was pinched at my elbow,” Postma said. “I think what happened was because my hand was resting on the steering wheel and I was making that right-hand turn off Sand Mine onto 101 when he hit me, the impact compressed my arm forward into the steering wheel and then backwards as a reactive motion into the seat behind me.”

Mavris questioned Postma’s injury claim, saying that he had never seen a carpal/cubital tunnel injury claim associated with a motor-vehicle accident in the 30 years he’s worked in personal injury law. The attorney said he provided “all the records that Ms. Postma allowed me to see” to Dr. Stephen Weber, an associate professor of orthopedics at Johns Hopkins University.

According to Mavris, the probation officer didn’t have Weber’s report when she made her sentencing recommendation to the court.

“Dr. Weber reviewed the alleged injuries and found that they were not related to the accident,” Mavris told Redwood Voice via email on Friday. “Of note is that Ms. Postma limited our right to review records only from the date of the accident though it is clear she had an extensive medical history which pre-dates the accident and we were never allowed to see those records.”

Postma, however, said Mavris used a third-party company to subpoena her medical records from one of the doctors treating her, her neurosurgeon. According to her, the neurosurgeon’s notes stated that a low-velocity impact couldn’t have caused what she’s experiencing. But, Postma said, Weber never reached out to her or her medical providers, relying on the chart notes for his report to the judge.

In her victim impact statement, Postma said before April 19, 2025, she was active, independent and strong, enjoying sports and moving “through the world with confidence and ease. Not only is she not able to do those things now, Postma said the emotional toll of the justice process has also been difficult to bear.

“I entered this system believing it would protect victims, honor our voices and deliver fairness,” she said. “But throughout this process, there have been moments where I felt unseen, unheard and pushed aside. That experience created a different kind of pain — one that settled in places no surgery can reach.”

In an Oct. 29 statement to Trinity County Deputy Probation Officer Andrea Wheeler, Hooper said he was ashamed of his actions and is treating the experience as a “profound wake-up call to reassess my priorities and make lasting changes in my life.” He said he has 20 years’ experience in public service and recognizes that his position carries a duty to uphold the community’s trust. 

Hooper, who is spearheading a jail rehabilitation project for Del Norte County, said being booked into that same facility forced him to “confront the truth about where I was heading.” 

“I now recognize that for years I had been using alcohol to manage stress and anxiety,” he said, “and, while I was not the sort of alcoholic who always needed to drink or who even drank frequently, I can now clearly recognize that I was the sort of alcoholic who, when he did drink, would drink to excess without consideration for the damage it would cause.”

Hooper said that his arrest has resulted in substantial consequences both for him and his family, largely due to local media coverage and its amplification via social media. He said he obtained a restricted driver’s license as well as an ignition interlock device to get him to his job.

Hooper also mentioned Postma in his statement.

“It is not my intention to minimize her experience, but rather to express that I have accepted responsibility for my actions and seek only a resolution that is fair and proportionate to the evidence in this case,” he said.

Hooper also provided the probation officers assigned to his case with character reference letters from Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott, County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez, Community Development Director Heidi Kunstal, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard and District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson.

Because of her pre-existing health issues, Postma said she had been seeing a chiropractor and a massage therapist. Since the collision, she’s had two surgeries, physical therapy and is currently taking 900 milligrams of gabapentin three times a day and 10 milligrams of oxycodone three times a day “to be functional.”

Postma said her auto insurance covers her medical bills and she’s not interested in restitution from Hooper. But he should be convicted of a felony because he caused felony harm, she argued, and if it was “some Joe Blow” off the street, the case would have turned out differently.

“I’ve never thought that he’s a bad person, I think he made a bad choice,” Postma said. “I think because of who he is and what he means to the county, I believe that’s why Mr. Morris probably recommended the wobbler to be a misdemeanor to the Attorney General’s Office and I’m sure they signed off on it.”