Man sentenced to 10 years in prison after woman's eyeball dislocated in Waynesboro attack
WAYNESBORO — A man who punched a woman, dislocating her eyeball, and then rammed her with a car last summer in a restaurant parking lot is headed to prison after pleading guilty to three felony charges Wednesday in Waynesboro Circuit Court.
The attacks took place the afternoon of Aug. 4.
Gary A. Beavers, 35, of New Market, was picked up that day at a Verona campsite by his 42-year-old girlfriend, whose 13-year-old daughter also came along for a day of shopping, according to Waynesboro Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Will H. Flory.
The prosecutor said that throughout the afternoon the couple argued back and forth because Beavers, who was unlicensed and drinking alcohol most of the day, wanted to drive but his girlfriend would not allow him behind the wheel of her car. After the three of them went to Harrisonburg, Flory said they returned to the area and were planning on going into the Walmart on Lucy Lane in Waynesboro when the couple again started arguing as they walked toward the store.
They never entered Walmart and instead got back into the car. As the woman drove, Flory said Beavers demanded they stop at a local Virginia ABC store for more alcohol but the woman refused. Beavers, who was sitting in the front passenger's seat, responded by punching the woman, causing a laceration above her right eye that would require stitches. She also suffered a fractured orbital and her eyeball was dislocated, according to Flory.
"Which caused her to lose sight in that eye for about three months," he said.
With her vision distorted, the woman pulled into the parking lot of the Los Panchos Mexican Restaurant on Lucy Lane and exited the car with her daughter. Flory said Beavers got in the driver's seat, and said video obtained from the incident showed he turned the car's wheels toward the teen and began moving forward. Flory said the girl ran to a nearby curb island in the middle of the parking lot.
Beavers then turned his attention to the woman. Flory said he drove across the parking lot and plowed the car into her, throwing the woman onto the hood of the vehicle before slamming the brakes. "She slides off the hood," he said.
Beavers fled the scene after an employee from the restaurant came out with a cell phone and began recording, Flory said. Beavers was captured that same day in New Market.
On Wednesday in court, he pleaded guilty to a single charge of unlawful wounding, along with two charges of attempted unlawful wounding. Beavers also has past convictions for breaking and entering, grand larceny, credit card fraud and identity theft, along with numerous probation violations, court records show.
In a plea agreement between the Waynesboro Commonwealth's Attorney's Office and the Staunton Public Defender's Office, Beavers was sentenced to 15 years in prison with five suspended, giving him 10 years to serve.
He remains at the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail and will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at [email protected]. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Man sentenced after woman's eyeball dislocated in Waynesboro attack