A Cheektowaga liver transplant recipient pleaded guilty Friday to driving drunk at seven

times the legal limit when he struck a pedestrian, two parked cars and a moving vehicle on

French Road in Cheektowaga in late March.

Gurninderjit Thandi had a blood alcohol reading of 0.56 percent after the hit-and-run

incident about 3:15 p.m. March 20, said Kelly A. Omel, chief of the Erie County district

attorney&#8217s Vehicular Crimes Unit. Omel said that&#8217s the highest reading she has seen

in a local drunken driving case.

According to the American Council for Drug Education, a blood-alcohol reading of 0.35

percent for most people would be the same as being under anesthesia for surgery.

Erie County Judge Michael F. Pietruszka refused to give Thandi, 32, of Edgebrook Estates, a

sentencing commitment, though he agreed to let him remain free pending his Aug. 24 sentencing.

Omel asked the judge to hold Thandi in lieu of $20,000 bail, but the judge agreed with

defense attorney Mark Carney that Thandi could remain free under the county&#8217s supervised

release program until sentencing. He also ordered Thandi to wear an electronic monitoring

device if probation officials deem it necessary.

Under a preindictment plea, Thandi &#8212 who had two drunken driving convictions on Staten

Island five years ago &#8212 pleaded guilty to felonious aggravated drunken driving,

aggravated unlicensed driving and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting it.

Police called to the accident scene were told Thandi&#8217s vehicle had pulled into an

apartment complex, driven onto grass behind the buildings and struck a parked vehicle. When a

witness tried to stop Thandi&#8217s vehicle as it hit another parked car, he was struck and

slightly injured as he was carried on the car&#8217s hood into French Road before falling off.

Thandi then hit a moving vehicle.

Thandi had his blood taken by police after he passed out near the scene of the accidents in

the 800 block of French Road, Omel told the judge.

Thandi, who came to court with his wife, told the judge during the plea proceedings that he

is still under a doctor&#8217s care for the liver transplant he had at a Rochester hospital in

January, and that he is taking anti-depression medication and being treated by mental health

experts.