_{Thumbnail photo: Randy Hooper was arrested on a DUI with injury charge after he struck Megan Postma’s vehicle at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 on April 19, 2025 | Photo by Heather Polen}

Randy Hooper will serve 44 days in jail, a Del Norte County judge decided on Monday nearly a year after officers arrested the assistant county administrative officer on a DUI with injury charge after leaving Elk Valley Casino.

At a sentencing hearing before Judge William Follett, Hooper offered an apology to Megan Postma, the Grants Pass woman whose vehicle he struck at U.S. 101 and Sand Mine Road on April 19, 2025.

“I wish I could have apologized sooner, but I was advised not to by my attorney,” Hooper told the judge. “I think my conduct was not of character — it certainly is not the way my parents raised me nor the way my wife and I are raising our children.”

Hooper, who had already spent two days in custody, was initially going to receive a 90-day jail sentence. However, the 88 days he was expected to serve was reduced by half due to a state incentive for good conduct. Hooper has seven days to turn himself into the Del Norte County jail.

In addition to his jail sentence, Hooper will also be required to complete 10 hours of community service within the next six months and will be on probation for three years. He is required to install an alcohol interlock device in his car and submit to a blood-alcohol test when ordered to. He also agreed to pay restitution of $1,860 in full. 

Hooper’s blood alcohol level was 0.255%, nearly three times the legal limit, on April 19 after he attempted to flee the scene following his collision with Postma. Hooper had been asked to leave Elk Valley Casino just before the collision, Jennifer Williamson, an investigator with the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office, testified during an Aug. 26 preliminary hearing. 

At that same hearing, Postma testified that she was approaching the stop sign at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 when she was hit from behind and was pushed onto the highway. According to her, Hooper wound up in front of her vehicle where his truck stopped. She said she counted for about 15 seconds before reaching for her phone when she saw the defendant beginning to drive away.

Hooper’s vehicle became disabled about 900 feet away from the collision near Crescent Beach Motel.

In October, Hooper pleaded no contest to felony DUI with injury as part of a plea bargain that would have reduced the charge to a misdemeanor if he followed its terms. 

In November, Follett rejected a recommendation from Trinity County probation officers that would have let Hooper’s felony charge stand, though he said the defendant would spend time in jail.

Postma said that while she didn’t want restitution from Hooper and she didn’t want to see him jailed, he should still be convicted of a felony.

Postma, who sustained nerve damage to her hand and wrist from the collision, noted Hooper’s three-times-the-legal-limit blood alcohol level at the time of the collision. In a March 6 sentencing letter to the court, she said the injuries from the collision left her unable to work for about six months. Postma said she was forced to take a medical separation from her job at the Oregon Department of Human Services.

Postma also pointed to the probation officers’ recommendation that Hooper’s felony charge stand. 

Following the hearing, Postma told KFUG Community Radio’s Heather Polen that she felt that a system that is meant to protect victims failed. She questioned whether justice is applied equally in Del Norte County and if other victims’ voices are truly being heard.

“After everything that has happened over the past year, I am deeply disheartened that the case was reduced to a single misdemeanor,” she said via email. “It does not reflect the reality of what I have endured.”

During the hearing, the defense attorney questioned whether Hooper could take advantage of a work furlough program that would release him during the day to work his job. While Follett didn’t object to Hooper taking advantage of such a program, there was uncertainty about whether the program was still in place.