News: Long Island Pregnant Woman’s Fatal Case
(Long Island, N.Y.) A possible DUI case goes to jury concerning a pregnant woman who crashed into the vehicle of an elderly couple in 2008. The couple, both in their seventies, died from the crash along with the woman’s unborn child. She was eight months pregnant at the time of the accident, and faces endangering the welfare of a child in addition to many other charges.
The incident occurred on May 30th, 2008 at roughly ten to three in the afternoon. The twenty-nine-year-old Miller Place woman was driving alone and was on her way to visit a relative. Reports stated that those who saw her minutes before the accident claim she did not appear the least bit intoxicated.
She was driving a Nissan eastbound in a westbound lane as she crossed the double-yellow line on Whiskey Road in her hometown of Ridge. She veered into incoming traffic and was doing forty-five miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour speed zone. She hit the couple’s 1999 Ford, which was traveling westbound, in a head-on collision.
The male driver, a seventy-four-year-old husband and father, was killed at the scene. His seventy-year-old wife in the passenger’s seat was hospitalized in critical condition at Stony Brook University Medical Center. She died three to four weeks following the accident from her injuries.
The scene of the accident was on a two-lane road that cuts through a woodland area. According to reports of the obituary at the time, the couple left behind two sons and daughters and twelve grandchildren. Reports have also stated that the pregnant woman was using her cell phone at the time of the accident.
The woman’s defense lawyer questioned the allegations, claiming that the only witnesses of the crash are since deceased. He concludes that phone records might have been pulled showing activity at the time of the accident and used to create the notion against his client. Some reports stated that the woman was charged for driving while impaired in 2001.
At the time of the 2008 accident blood tests revealed that she was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Her blood alcohol level was .06%, which is under the legal limit of .08%. She was also under the influence of clonazepam, which is a medication prescribed for anxiety.
She was arrested a month after the incident from a warrant issued as part of an indictment given by a grand jury. This, her lawyer stated, was unnecessary because she had every intention of turning herself in. Seventh Squad Police were in charge of handling her case.
The charges against her were for second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, driving while under the combined influence of drugs and alcohol, speeding, talking on a cell phone while driving, and endangering the welfare of a child. She was released without bail and pleaded not guilty to the charges. She could face up to twenty-five years for the top charge in her crimes.
Her baby was delivered prematurely by emergency C-section at Stony Brook University Medical Center. The infant was in serious but stable condition at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. After five days, the infant died, and it is unclear what caused the baby’s condition to deteriorate.
