News: Man Released After Crash That Killed Cop
(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-five-year-old man from Plainview was released from prison after a drunk-driving incident that killed a Suffolk County Police Officer. The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning on February 22nd, 2009. According to reports, the man was also accused of operating his cell phone at the time of the crash.
The man returns to his wife and two kids after two years and eight months behind bars. He served nine months in a state prison, and reports stated that he was released from the Gowanda medium security facility in Erie County. Sources claimed that he had been driving a 2007 Dodge Magnum on the night of the fatal collision.
The crash occurred at Vanderbilt Motor Parkway and Commack Road in Commack during a time when the released man was out on bail. He had been arrested in Nassau County for a drunk-driving offense that occurred in January of that year. He pleaded guilty in March of the following year to driving while intoxicated, and served a year in prison according to his sentence.
The police officer killed was a forty-five-year-old man from Bayport who had been responding to a call in his police cruiser. The man who hit the officer caused the police cruiser to hit a utility pole. The vehicle exploded upon impact, killing the officer at a time when his lights and siren had been allegedly turned off.
The man’s blood alcohol level was over twice the legal limit at .19 and some reports questioned how fast the officer had been traveling prior to the crash. The twenty-five-year-old, who did not receive a plea bargain, pleaded guilty to the C-felony of vehicular manslaughter and aggravated driving while intoxicated. He had been indicted at the Riverhead Criminal Court and handled by officers from the Fourth Precinct in Hauppauge and the Third Precinct in Bay Shore.
According to reports, he was sentenced in January to up to four years in prison, two of which he spent in a Suffolk County jail before the sentencing. After being credited with time served, the man spent minimal time behind bars for his crime in the eyes of prosecutors who wrote the state parole board opposing his release from prison. He will be on probation until February of 2013, and allegedly had no disciplinary problems with a clean record during his time in prison.
According to reports, the man continues to be remorseful for his crime and has apologized to the grieving policemen. The officer’s family was allegedly disappointed with the sentencing in the case, but chose to accept the outcome. Sources claimed that the twenty-five-year-old has plans to work in his family’s restaurant business and may receive a license only after his probation period is complete.
