Local man pleads guilty to drunken crash the destroyed civic center sign

The Corbin Civic Center is getting a new sign and Dalton Christopher Brewer’s legal battle over the destruction of the old sign is finished after pleading guilty Tuesday to driving under the influence when he ran his pickup truck off the road and into the sign in July.

At a hearing in Whitley District Court in Corbin, Brewer’s attorney, Paul K. Croley, II, told Judge Cathy Prewitt that Brewer’s insurance company had paid for the sign and his client wanted to plead guilty to the DUI charge.

As to the other charges of second-degree possession of a controlled substance, third-degree possession of a controlled substance and public intoxication, Croley said his client was stipulating to probable cause, meaning that Brewer is stipulating that there was cause for his arrest.

As part of the agreement, those charges were dismissed.

“We really packaged both cases together,” Assistant County Attorney Gary Brittain told the court.

In return for his guilty plea, Brewer was fined $200, his driver’s license is suspended for 30 days and he must complete DUI classes. A 30-day jail sentence has been conditionally discharged provided he have no further legal violations within the next two years

Under Kentucky Law, Brewer must complete DUI classes before his license will be reinstated.

Corbin Police were called to the scene on Ky. 312 at the Corbin Civic Center grounds on July 11 in response to a report that a truck had run off the road.

Brewer reportedly told Corbin Police that, he collided with another vehicle, which caused him to run off the road, destroying the sign and a section of chain link fencing that surrounds the athletic field.

Major Rob Jones, the department’s public affairs officer, said previously that Brewer’s account of the incident is not consistent with the amount of damage his truck sustained in the incident.

 Police noted that Brewer had red, bloodshot eyes. He underwent several field sobriety tests and was taken to Baptist Health Corbin where a blood sample was taken and then released to his family, after being cited to court.

Corbin City Manager Marlon Sams confirmed that the new sign has been ordered from Action Outdoor and Awnings and should be on installed by the end of May. That is the same company that installed The Arena sign. 

While being essentially the same as the old sign, Sams said the new sign will have a digital area where the messages can be easily change The estimated cost is $12,000, which the insurance is covering.

The project did not have to be let out for bid because it is below the $20,000 threshold.

In 2010, a federal lawsuit that Brewer filed against Whitley County in which he claimed he was pistol-whipped by former Corbin Police Officer and one-time Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony “Tony” Ramey was settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

The lawsuit stemmed from a 2007 incident in which Brewer claimed that Tony Ramey’s son, Perry, stole a pistol from his father and then sold it to Brewer for $300 cash.

When Tony Ramey learned about it, he and Perry reportedly went to Brewer’s home with the intention of retrieving the gun. When Brewer and Perry Ramey began fighting, Brewer claimed that Tony Ramey, who was a card-carrying Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy, told him he was under arrest and beat and choked him.

A jury later found for Brewer and awarded him $6.2 million. However the two sides agreed to hold a settlement conference, which resulted in Brewer dismissing the lawsuit in exchange for an undisclosed monetary settlement.