Dungan on Redding's death: 'I'm sorry'

Eric Dungan was sentenced to 15-years-to-life in prison in an Auburn courtroom Thursday for the second-degree murder of Rocklin Police Officer Matt Redding, who was killed in 2005 during a traffic stop.Officer Redding, 29, was directing traffic in the northbound lanes of Highway 65 south of Stanford Ranch Road after an earlier felony traffic stop around 4 a.m. Oct. 9, 2005 when he was struck by a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup truck Dungan was driving. At the time of the crash, Dungan, 26, had a blood alcohol level of .18 -- more than twice the legal limit. During his trial, Dungan took the stand in his own defense. He told jurors he never saw Redding. Dungan said he was trying to send a text message on his cell phone at the time. Initially, Dungan told investigating officer that he did see Redding but thought he had enough time to stop. Michael Bowman, Dungan's Sacramento attorney, began the proceedings by requesting a new trial, which was denied by Judge Larry D. Gaddis. Dungan kept his head down and wiped his eyes with a tissue that his mother, Tina Dungan, requested the bailiff hand him as Redding's parents addressed the courtroom."I can't tell you how much we hurt, and I know the Dungan family hurts as well," John Redding said. "But everyone else driving down that freeway that night slowed down - but Eric didn't slow down. And only he knows what happened, but this was not an accident - he hit Matt and left him there to die."Marilyn Redding addressed Dungan directly after speaking about her son."You drank and you drove and you said yourself you had driven drunk before," she said. "This is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern of callous behavior - you chose to leave the scene and you didn't care about the life you took. You only thought about yourself. You are a menace to society and I ask for the maximum sentence for the total disregard of the life of my son."Chief Mark Siemens of the Rocklin Police Department and about a dozen officers and detectives turned out to support the Redding family Thursday and also addressed the court. Dungan's aunt, Liz Brook, spoke on behalf of the Dungan family."Eric stayed with me for a month after that night and he couldn't sleep by himself for a week or with the lights on," Brook said. "I want the Redding family to know that we pray for them every day and have wanted to contact them, but were told to leave them in their grief," she said. "I hope we can all come to a resolution with this."Dungan briefly addressed the courtroom. "I am sorry and I know what a wonderful person Matt Redding was because some of his friends were my friends and they told me what a great person he was," Dungan said before the verdict was read. "I know he is not here because of my shortcomings as a person and I want everyone to know that I am sorry. I know saying I'm sorry won't hold much weight, because it won't bring him back. I know I will have to walk with this for the rest of my life and I accept that."Dungan's parents, Ken and Tina Dungan did not comment during the sentencing and fled the courtroom following the verdict. They did not answer questions or address the media outside the courthouse.Outside the courtroom, John and Marilyn Redding addressed the media about the verdict."Today, what we saw was justice prevail," John Redding said. "But there are no winners here, we have all lost. Eric will breathe air, but his family will not get to see him. And our son Matt is gone."The Journal's Penne Usher contributed to this report. She can be reached at penneu@goldcountrymedia.com. The Journal's Jenna Nielsen can be reached at jennan@goldcountrymedia.com.