MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — Nearly two years after Kimberly Pero’s left leg was amputated due to a drunk driver, the suspect was finally sentenced.
Jason Tasker, 42, pled guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 7.5 years behind bars. This is his 10th felony conviction.
“I feel like I can move on finally,” said Pero. “Is it fair? No, but I can move on with that sentence.”
It was Memorial Day weekend in 2021 when Pero’s life forever changed.
Pero and her husband were riding their motorcycles when Tasker drove into her near 67th Avenue and Union Hills Drive in Glendale.
Her left leg was severely injured. Two days after the crash it had to be amputated above the knee.
Police arrested Tasker the night of the crash. He was taken to Glendale Jail where a blood alcohol test was conducted, records showed. His results came back as 0.155 and 0.157 BAC, both nearly twice above the legal limit.
After the crash, Tasker was let go, arresting documents showed. They detailed that a Glendale police officer drove the suspect to his home after multiple attempts of trying to reach someone on the suspect’s phone to pick him up.
“I’m glad that he’s doing seven and a half years. What’s sad is that he received a 7.5-year sentence, and I received a life sentence,” Pero told 12News Wednesday. “That’s kind of hard to swallow.”
Justice delayed due to MCAO staffing shortages
Kimberly Pero’s case dragged on for nearly two years, as the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office faced staffing shortages and an onslaught of cases.
“It was a foundational piece that we could not move forward [with cases] until we had this office back up to a healthy number of people,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said to 12News during a scheduled press conference on Wednesday.
Mitchell took office in April 2022, following the resignation of Allister Adel.
Since being appointed to her role, Michell said staffing numbers have improved after hiring 197 people. From the 20% staffing deficit she “inherited,” to “single digits” now.
The Vehicular Crimes Bureau added three attorneys to a total of 18, MCAO said. Each attorney handles 50 to 60 cases.
In March 2022, there were 2,267 cases submitted for review to this unit. By the end of March 2023 that number dropped to 814, Mitchell said.
Currently, the Vehicular Crimes unit has 680 cases pending review, the county attorney said.
“We’ve done a little bit of reorganization that I think might make things more efficient for the office,” Mitchell said. “We will continue to assess it and be vocal with the Board of Supervisors who have been extremely supportive of our efforts.”
Driver's blood-alcohol content twice above legal limit
Glendale police recommended several charges against Tasker, including extreme DUI, to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, but he ultimately pled guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a Class 3 felony.
On the day of the crash, investigators said Tasker was in the right lane on Union Hills Drive heading west when at the intersection he suddenly turned left and hit Kimberly Pero.
Tasker “was stumbling around and could not stand still” when officers arrived and asked him for his driver’s license, arrest documents showed. “He fumbled through his wallet, dropping [it] twice trying to find it.”
When Tasker finally found his license, investigators said he handed officers “a license of someone else that was not” him, court records said.
Police officers helped Tasker walk to their patrol vehicle because he “could not stand without falling over [and] was stumbling” after he was detained.
Tasker was taken to Glendale City Jail where officers performed two breath tests to check for his alcohol level, records showed. His results came back as 0.155 and 0.157 BAC, both nearly twice above the legal limit.
During a post-Miranda interview, he allegedly told police he had drunk beer, Bud Light, and Heineken.
“While talking to [Tasker] throughout the process, he continued to have slurred speech, was stumbling, and could not provide a correct address,” one officer wrote in arrest documents.
That officer made multiple calls on Tasker’s phone, in an attempt to locate someone to pick him up from jail, but no one answered, court records said.
“I called [Tasker]’s mom and advised her of the situation,” the officer wrote in the report. “I asked if she was able to come to pick [him] up and she advised… [he] has been through this situation again and again and again and she was tired of helping him. She said [Tasker] is 40 years old. He can figure out his problems from there.”
After more failed phone calls, the officer took Tasker to his home himself, arrest documents said.
Where Kimberly goes from here
The last two years have not been easy for Kimberly Pero.
She had to learn how to walk again, suffers from phantom pains, and therapy and medical bills have put a strain on their financials.
But now with Tasker’s sentence, she’s ready for the next chapter in her life.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever get to do a lot of the things that I did, but I’m positive that I can at least try,” Pero said.
She hopes her story will serve as a lesson for others and the man who hurt her.
“Hopefully he uses this time to not only get sober but to be a better person for the rest of his life. He still has a chance and hopefully he takes it and turns his life around,” Pero said. “I hope somebody watching this, if they don’t get in a car and drink and drive, they at least help prevent somebody from doing it.”
Kimberly Pero said losing her leg was a blessing, “as odd as it sounds,” because it has made her “a better person.”