Results tagged “fataldwi”

The off-duty police detective who fatally struck a pedestrian in the Bronx yesterday morning was charged with vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, and DWI. Detective Kevin Spellman had been driving a Chevrolet into the Bronx intersection of W. 232 Street and Kingsbridge Avenue, hitting 67-year-old Drana Nikac. A witness said, "He had a red light. He went through a red light and he was speeding. He was speeding."

The woman who allegedly drove drunk and crashed a vehicle full of young girls on the West Side Highway—killing her daughter's 11-year-old friend—is reportedly so upset that she's on suicide watch. A sourced tells the Daily News, "The first thing she says to anyone who walks into her room is that she deserves to die. That she is going to kill herself. She's not doing well right now."

More upsetting details about the horrible crash on the West Side Highway that left an 11-year-old girl dead and six other girls injured, not to mention the mother who was allegedly driving drunk at the time. Melody Sanchez, whose daughter 11-year-old daughter Kayla (pictured) is in critical condition after being thrown from the overloaded Mercury Sable, said that Carmen Huertas essentially taunted the girls about her terrible driving.

Early Sunday morning, a Bronx woman driving a 1998 Mercury Sable—carrying seven children, including her daughter, ages 11 to 14—crashed and overturned her car on the West Side Highway. An 11-year-old girl was killed and the Daily News reports, "Investigators said Carmen Huertas' blood-alcohol content was more than one and a half times the legal limit." Huertas, 31, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving. The girl's father said, "I call this murder."

Early yesterday morning, a 48-year-old man was killed when a suspected drunk driver T-boned his car in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Jorge Cortes, of Maryland, was charged with "manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter 2-degree, criminally negligent homicide and DWI," according to WABC 7.

An off-duty cop has been arrested for an early morning DWI in Brooklyn where he fatally struck down a woman who had just left a wedding. Witnesses say Officer Andrew Kelly made no effort to slow down as his Jeep Grand Cherokee crashed into 33-year-old Veronica Valnore just after midnight in Marine Park. Valnore was trying to catch a cab after leaving a wedding at Floyd Bennett American Legion. She is said to have been pronounced dead soon after cops arrived at the scene.

Last year, a drunk driver fatally struck a livery cab in Astoria, killing the cab driver Bessy Velasquez and passenger Panayiota Demetriou. While driver Daryush Omar pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter (he'll be sentenced this month), Demetriou's family will sue the Queens bar that served Omar. According to the Post, "the suit would be filed under the rarely used Dram Shop Act, which holds establishments civilly liable for serving the visibly drunk." At his court hearing, Omar admitted to drinking at the Cavo Lounge even after he was intoxicated—he was found with a 0.18 blood alcohol level, over twice the legal limit. Demetriou was 30 and a doctoral student in psychology at Pace; her family said, "We are looking for justice. We want to protect other families so they won't go through this."

A 15-year-old died from massive head injuries sustained when he was struck by an allegedly intoxicated woman in Hampton Bays on Wednesday night. According to Newsday, Joseph Marino (pictured) "was standing with his bicycle at Ponquogue Avenue and Argonne Road East at about 8:40 p.m..., talking to two friends, when Caroline Goss, 34, drove her 2001 Jeep Cherokee into him." Marino had been in a coma, Suffolk County police say that Goss, who had a previous DWI in 2003, was intoxicated and had a 6-year-old son in the car—she was charged with DWI, endangering the welfare of a child and "having an open container of alcohol in the car." A friend said that Goss is a single mom of two who works the midnight shift at a Port Jefferson Hospital and as a waitress on the weekends. Just yesterday, Governor Paterson suggested tougher penalties for drivers who drive drunk with kids in the car and for drunk drivers who kill children under 17.

Some more details about the early Saturday car crash on the FDR Driver that left one driver dead and another driver charged with DWI and vehicular manslaughter. The charged driver, Brandon Connelly, reportedly had a 0.114 blood alcohol level (the legal limit is 0.08); his Audi hit a Chevy Tahoe (which hit a concrete median) near Catherine Slip, just north of the Brooklyn Bridge, and then the Audi hit a Dodge Caravan. The Tahoe's driver Jamil Aljabal, 42, of Henderson, NC, was killed, while four other people plus Connelly were injured. Connelly is a Marine and his wife told the Post, "We're hurting for all the families, for everybody... He's an amazing, loving father. He served his country, and he did it proudly." And Connelly's step-grandfather said, "The first tour he went on, he was training [Iraqi] guys. After 9/11, that tour was a tough one. That's all he said: 'It wasn't like my last tour.' It was unpleasant."

A Staten Island man was killed when an alleged drunk driver crashed into his car. The Staten Island Advance reports that Dion Price, 23, had been driving on Forest Avenue early yesterday morning when George Baldini's Chevy Tahoe, traveling on Manor Road, hit him. Price, who had just texted his fiancee that he was heading home, was pronounced dead at the scene while Baldini was charged with DWI. Also, the Advance notes that according to its archives, "A George Baldini Jr. of Port Richmond was arrested in October 2007 for allegedly being involved in an Internet child porn sting, and was accused of sending an undercover cop a dozen images displaying male genitalia, a naked 5-year-old girl, pre-pubescent girls performing sexual acts with juvenile boys. He believed the officer -- who used the nickname TINAGREENEYES -- was a 14-year-old-girl."

Suffolk County police tell Newsday that a 25-year-old driver, who was lost as she was trying to find the Long Island Expressway, was fatally struck by an apparently drunk driver. Melissa Scherr had been on the cellphone with her boyfriend, trying to make her way to the highway from Melville, when her Nissan 200SX was hit from behind and thrown into a utility pole. Douglas Davis, driving a pick-up truck, was arrested for DWI and fleeing the scene. He was found after a volunteer firefighter responding to the crash noticed a man inspecting damage to the front of his vehicle in a parking lot—and the firefighter "smelled burning rubber and antifreeze coming from the truck," plus noticed both of the truck's air bags were out.

A NYC correction officer is facing DWI and vehicular manslaughter charges after a crash that killed a 61-year-old driver. WABC 7 reports that Junior Jordan, 45, "was driving his Ford Explorer" in Uniondale yesterday morning "when he collided with Hyundai driven by Maria Balan." Balan later died at Nassau University Medical Center. Jordan, who was not injured, will be arraigned in a Hempstead court today.

Authorities say 27-year-old driver of a Mercedes that fatally plowed into a 30-year-old woman crossing Brighton Beach Avenue over the weekend was on drugs at the time of arrest.

The mother of the NYPD police officer killed when her friend and fellow cop drunkenly crashed on a Long Island highway spoke of forgiveness of the sentencing of Danielle Baymack. Baymack, who had been charged with DWI and vehicular manslaughter for the 2006 incident, pleaded guilty in exchange for what Newsday calls a "lenient sentence" of six months in jail and five years probation.