An off-duty cop has been charged with killing a man while allegedly driving drunk early Wednesday morning in the Bronx. According to police, rookie officer Luis Arnao, 25, struck Tyre Chisholm, 22, with his 2011 Honda Accord as Chisholm was crossing the street on White Plains Road near 241st Street just before 4 a.m. "He got hit hard. He flew up in the air. His shoes flew off with his socks still in them," said witness Devine Douglas.
Allegedly Drunk Off-Duty Cop Fatally Strikes Pedestrian
Off-Duty Cop Killed By Allegedly Drunk Driver On LI Highway
New York State Police say that an off-duty NYPD officer was killed when a drunk driver rear-ended him. Kevin Jessup, 25, had been driving east on the Southern State Parkway when Jonathan Lopez struck his car around 5:35 a.m. yesterday morning. Jessup was pronounced dead at Nassau University Medical Center, while his passenger, Crystal Simons, was released after being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
After Dad Kills Mom In DWI Crash, 11-Year-Old Cries, "Who's Going To Take Care Of Me?"
The Daily News has the depressing grief-stricken words of an 11-year-old whose mother was killed in a Brooklyn drunk driving crash on the Belt Parkway early Saturday morning. And his father was the one driving the car. Tarell DuPass reportedly told his grandmother, "Who's going to take care of me?" and saying "he doesn't have anyone anymore."
Ex-Cop Gets 90 Days For Drunkenly Mowing Down Woman
A seven-year NYPD veteran has accepted a plea deal that will result in 90 days in jail for fatally running over a 32-year-old Brooklyn woman as she tried to hail a cab one night in September 2009. Police officer Andrew Kelly—who famously stalled his blood alcohol test for seven hours after the accident—pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter today and also turned in his badge. When the judge asked him if he accepted the fact that his drunk driving caused Vionique Valnord's death, he quietly answered "yes." And after pleading guilty, he approached Valnord's father, Reverend Varius Valnord.
Pedestrian Killed By Hit & Run Driver In Washington Heights
Early yesterday morning in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, a man crossing Broadway at 173rd Street was fatally struck by a driver in a 2007 Toyota Scion. The driver continued on, until cops caught up with Argelis Alcantara at 186th Street and Broadway.
Two Dead In JFK Drunk Driving Crash
Driver Itwaru Deo was arrested around 1 a.m. after leaving the scene of a crash that left two passengers dead. Deo, who blew a .132 on his breathalyzer test, swerved around a car stopped at a red light the exit ramp for the Van Wyck Expressway at JFK airport, flipping the car over and hitting a tree. Victim Adrian Persuad's mother told the Post, "Drunk driving is not acceptable, he needs to be punished he needs to go to jail." Police found a bottle of Hennessy cognac in the front seat of the 2005 Volkswagen Passat, and will likely be charged with fleeing the scene of an accident, drunk driving, and possibly vehicular manslaughter or murder.
"High" Driver's Mom: She's "A Very Sensitive Little Girl"
The mother of 18-year-old Kayla Gerdes who jumped a curb and drove a passenger van into a Hempstead home— fatally striking the home's 69-year-old owner—defended her daughter yesterday. Tara Gerdes told Inside Edition, "It's your worst nightmare as a parent to have this happen. They're portraying her as a horrible teenaged girl who doesn't care, could care less. It's so not true."
Sharpton Tells Community To Watch Accused DWI Cop Case
A few days after a cop was indicted for vehicular manslaughter and DWI for the death of Vionique Valnord, her family appeared with the Reverend Al Sharpton yesterday. NY1 reports that Sharpton told his supporters to monitor Police Officer Andrew Kelly's trial, "It is important this this officer faces justice, so that people understand that the law is the law no matter who breaks the law. You don't get a break. There's no excuse for a policeman to be driving drunk."
Woman Arrested In Suspected DWI Crash, 11-Year-Old Dead
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."
Woman Gets 1-3 Years For Killing Boyfriend With Car
Two years ago, Louis Wiederer tried to stop his girlfriend from driving away from a Suffolk County block party while drunk. But Jesenia Vega ignored him and drove off—and Wiederer, who was clinging to her Nissan Altima's window, slipped off and was caught under the car and killed. Vega dragged his body 600 feet before stopping. Vega, who initially claimed that Widener was hitting her and she was trying to get away (a witness had said, "It looked like he was hitting her, but he was trying to stop her... She was totally irrational"), had pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and DWI earlier this year. Now she faces one to three years in prison; Vega said yesterday, "It was a bad, bad accident that I have to relive everyday." Wiederer's mother said, "Louis was too good for you, Jesenia."
Alleged DWI Driver In FDR Crash Is Iraq Vet
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."
Drunk Driver Crashes Into Store, Kills Passengers
If one ever needed an additional reason to buckle up, there's the news of two men who were killed while traveling in a car piloted by a drunken driver. 28-year-old Stephen Bush was speeding down Rockaway Blvd. early Saturday morning when he lost control of his Cadillac sedan and drove through the front of a carpet store in Rosedale. Bush was uninjured, but two of his passengers--Garfield Nelson and Wayne Burnette--were both killed. A third person was mildly injured.
Guilty Plea in 2007 Fatal Manhattan Hit-and-Run
The drunk driver who fatally struck a 24-year-old woman on East 4th and Bowery--and kept driving--last year has pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter. Twenty-one-year-old Tenzing Bhutia, a senior at Baruch, will serve a two-year sentence starting in June for killing Julia Thomson (pictured) with his father's Mercedes last October.
DWI Driver Convicted in Off-Duty Cop's Highway Death
Yesterday, a NJ volunteer firefighter was found guilty of fatally hitting an off-duty police officer. Robert Derian, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.12, had been driving his Jeep on the West Side Highwaywhen he hit 29-year-old Eric Concepcion.
Drunk Driver Who Fatally Hit Bicyclist Sentenced
Eugenio Cidron, the man who killed bicyclist Eric Ng in 2006 after driving drunk down the West Side bike path instead of the West Side Highway following a holiday party at Chelsea Piers, was sentenced yesterday to three to 10 years in prison. Cidron had driven over a plastic pylon to enter the path from Chelsea Piers and had been driving south for a mile before hitting Ng, who was traveling north.
Drunk Driver Causes Fatal Crash in Queens
A 66-year-old man driving a Nissan Maxima was fatally hit by a drunk driver on Woodhaven Boulevard, between 101st Avenue and 97th Avenue in Ozone Park. Twenty-five-year-old Christopher Rivera, driving a Honda Accord, crossed the road's median around 10:45PM and slammed into the Maxima driving in the opposite direction. The Maxima then hit a third car, a BMW. The Maxima's driver was pronounced dead at the scene, his passenger was injured, as well as Rivera...

