A Gary man was sentenced to a nine-year split term Thursday for hitting two men with a vehicle in 2019 near the now-former Longshots bar in Schererville.

Carl Vaughn, now 31, pleaded guilty April 25 to aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon.

Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced him to five years in prison, one in Lake County Community Corrections and three on probation.

Vaughn’s lawyer Lakeisha Murdaugh said the two victims were drinking and one punched her client outside the bar, before cops told them all to go home.

At one point later, someone threw rocks at Vaughn’s vehicle. It was no justification, but provided “context” for what he did.

Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie said it was serious — one victim was left with “severe” injuries. Vaughn was out on bond at the time for an Illinois gun charge.

He had “at least four opportunities to just drive away,” the prosecutor said.

Vaughn apologized in court saying he “made bad decisions when he was younger” and wished the victims had been in court, so he could express remorse to them personally.

You choose to re-engage and regret that, Bokota told him. She also noted he was involved in a jail fight about a year earlier.

Updated court documents show Vaughn got into an argument with the two men outside Longshots, 2251 U.S. 41 on Sept. 19, 2019.

One man knocked Vaughn to the ground, before Vaughn got into a vehicle and hit him in a nearby parking lot. He hit a second man on the way out, documents state.

mcolias@post-trib.com