News: LI Woman Admits to Drunk Driving
(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-year-old woman from Centereach pleaded guilty Wednesday at a conference in a Suffolk County Court to driving while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, and ecstasy. She admitted to having ingested caffeinated, alcoholic drinks and rum and cokes, on top of smoking pot and taking an ecstasy pill. She later drove her grandmother’s ’97 Lexus into a tree at an excessive speed, killing two of her friends and injuring two others who were passengers.
The incident occurred in January of last year at roughly a quarter-to-five in the morning on a residential block in Central Islip. The Lexus was impounded for a safety check and an investigation was undertaken by Third Squad Detectives. Friends and family claimed that the then nineteen-year-old driver had plans to join the Marine Corps. prior to the accident.
She lost control of the vehicle near Apple Street and impacted a pine tree. The tree was sliced in half and the car continued to travel into a second tree near Banana Street, coming to a halt near Wilson Boulevard. The car disintegrated upon impact, and one of the passengers was allegedly found against the tree.
Police and authorities on the case claimed that it was one of the worst accidents they had seen on the job. They said that the vehicle was going fast enough to shear the first tree completely off its base and continue to plow into another. The tail light was shattered and discovered a considerable distance from the scene of the accident, as was a shoe, board game, and teddy bear that had been inside the vehicle.
The driver was discovered with glassy eyes and slurred speech and taken to a hospital for minor injuries. A twenty-three-year-old man from Central Islip was pronounced dead at the scene, just a block away from his residence. Friends and family members claimed that he had been pursuing a career in retail management and planned to enroll in Suffolk Community College.
An eighteen-year-old girl from Hauppauge was pronounced dead at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. Two men, ages twenty and twenty-five, were taken to Southside Hospital for serious injuries. One suffered a head wound and the other suffered internal injuries, but police claimed that they were amazed anyone had come out of the crash alive.
The driver consented to tests at the hospital in order for authorities to determine an exact blood-alcohol level. She allegedly suffered the least of the injuries and had already been expected to be charged with drunk driving. Friends and family members of the victims were devastated at the news and placed candles, flowers, and balloons at the site of the crash.
She was later charged with driving while intoxicated and impaired by drugs, vehicular homicide, manslaughter, reckless driving, speeding, and additional offenses. Some sources claimed that she had been traveling at seventy miles-per-hour in a thirty speed zone and others estimated that she had reached eighty. Reports stated that she could face more than thirteen years in prison.
