Anna Caplan
A former assistant principal-turned-stripper was recently sentenced to 32 years in prison, after a jury found her guilty of a wrong-way crash, which killed a rookie Pearland cop.
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According to the sentence reached late Thursday afternoon, Amber Willemsen, 40, must serve 16 years in prison before she is eligible in parole.
It took a jury less than two hours to reach a verdict in the trial on Tuesday.
Witnesses said Willemsen was drinking throughout her shift at The Ritz on June 11, 2016, just before she mowed down officer Endy Ekpanya, 30, a rookie cop who was responding to a call on FM 518 near Liberty Drive.
Willemsen, who was out on bail for a drug charge at the time, was driving her Chrysler 200 sedan the wrong way on the road when she hit Ekpanya.
“Endy Ekpanya took the hit for another citizen who was coming behind him,” Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said during her closing argument. “In his final act, he was protecting and serving.”
Willemsen was formerly an assistant principal for Clear Creek ISD.
She was out on bail on a separate felony drug charge when she killed Ekpanya.
