Results tagged “dwifatality”

Last November, Daryush Omar was arrested after crashing his SUV into a livery cab, killing driver Bessy Velasquez and passenger Panayiota Demetriou. He had run a red light at 31st Avenue in Astoria and t-boned the cab; police found his blood alcohol was 0.176, twice the legal limit. Yesterday, Omar, who has been held without bail, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, and will face sentencing of 3 1/2 to 10 years next month. Omar, a Long Island resident, was also found to be living in the country illegally and will be deported to Afghanistan after he serves his term. The Post reports that another murder case against Omar—in 2006, he allegedly told friends to beat up a man who simply asked for directions (the man died after being beat with a steel pipe)— was dropped because "two key witnesses vanished."

A 21-year-old man riding his motorcycle was killed by a driver in Brooklyn around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. Brian Sitarevich, who was riding with other friends, was on Humboldt Street when he was hit by Daniel Levens's SUV; Levens had tried to make a left turn onto Greenpoint Avenue. Levens, of Massapequa, was charged with drunk driving and the Brooklyn DA's office is investigating whether to press more charges. Sitarevich's father wouldn't blame Levens yet, "I can't point the finger at someone that might be innocent," but added, "There is a hole in your heart and I hope one day it will close. I keep looking at the door and hoping he is going to walk through the door for dinner or something."

According to Newsday, a 21-year-old college student "was killed when a drunken driver's SUV slammed head-on into his car, Nassau police said." Jason Shein, on Thanksgiving break from the University of Miami and a volunteer EMT, had been driving home in Farmingdale with three friends when the crash occurred shortly after midnight on Sunday. Of Shein's passengers, one was seriously injured and two others were treated and released from the hospital. The SUV's driver, Persi Esquivel, who was also treated for injuries, had apparently "crossed the double yellow line to pass another vehicle" and ending up hitting Shein's car. Esquivel was charged with manslaughter and 11 other charges; plus he had been "on probation from a previous drunken driving conviction."

A recent high school graduate was killed in a car accident early yesterday morning when a pickup truck drove into the Honda Civic she was riding in at East 65th Street and Park Avenue. Julie Tsang, 17, had graduated three days earlier from Millennium High School and was planning on attending Hunter College this fall. Police charged the truck's driver, 22-year-old Robert Gomez (who was not hurt), with criminally negligent homicide, DWI, and driving with a suspended license. Sources told the Post Gomez "refused a breath test but reeked of alcohol." The Honda's driver Kevin Chang is in critical but stable condition.