The Waterloo woman convicted of aggravated DUI following a crash last July in Columbia that seriously injured a New Athens girl was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.

Katherine A. Brinkley, 27, pleaded guilty to the felony charge in March and was already serving time at Logan Correctional Center as a result of incidents that occurred in St. Clair County earlier the same night as the crash.

In addition to her prison sentence, Brinkley was ordered to pay $545,437.85 in restitution to Nicole Warnecke and her family to cover medical expenses.

Warnecke, who recently graduated from New Athens High School with plans to attend SWIC this fall, was joined by family and friends in the courtroom Thursday during Brinkley’s sentencing and provided a victim impact statement for the court.

“The accident she induced ruined everything I’ve done in my entire life,” Warnecke said. “The discomfort Katherine caused never leaves me. I’ve been through hell and back because of what she did to me.”

Warnecke, 18, was a passenger in a Pontiac G6 driven by her boyfriend, Brett Luther of Columbia, that was crossing Route 3 eastbound from Veterans Parkway after leaving McDonald’s. Brinkley’s northbound Lexus SUV ran a red light at a high rate of speed and slammed into its passenger side about 9 p.m. on July 15.

Luther was transported by Monroe County EMS to St. Anthony’s Medical Center in St. Louis County for treatment of a head injury.

Warnecke required extrication from the car by firefighters and was flown by an ARCH Air Medical Services helicopter to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital for treatment of serious injuries that included head trauma, broken bones including her hip, plus a lacerated spleen and liver.

Warnecke was in a coma for a month following the crash and suffered a traumatic brain injury that has resulted in both short-term and long-term memory loss.

Family members say it was a miracle Warnecke survived and although she has healed from many of her injuries, life will never be the same.

“Nikki was going to pursue a career in radiology and (was) sure to be successful,” wrote her mother, Diane Warnecke, in a victim impact statement submitted at sentencing. “Now she struggles to remember how to (follow) a two-step instruction.”

Brinkley was not injured in the crash. She was escorted from the scene to the Columbia police station for questioning and later charged with aggravated driving under the influence of drugs.

Brinkley was free on bond and wearing an electronic monitoring device at the time of the crash as the result of a May 2015 drug possession arrest. She was also charged in St. Clair County with aggravated battery involving an elderly victim plus charges of fleeing police, reckless driving, no drivers license and other traffic violations following an incident in Belleville earlier in the evening of July 15.

She was subsequently sentenced to three years for aggravated battery and another year on the drug charge and was serving time at Logan prior to the conclusion of the Monroe County case. Her new sentence will run concurrent with the remaining time she has to serve on the St. Clair County convictions.

Brinkley must serve 85 percent of the seven-year sentence imposed in Monroe County.

Brinkley has another previous conviction in St. Clair County for possession of a methamphetamine precursor stemming from a 2011 arrest.