Monday, August 1, 2005

QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER AND DRIVING UNDER INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL IN DEATH-BY-AUTO INCIDENT IN WHICH ONE PASSENGER WAS KILLED AND TWO OTHERS INJURED; FACES UP TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Jackson Heights supermarket clerk has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while under the influence of alcohol in a death-by-auto incident in which one passenger in his vehicle was killed and two others were injured.

District Attorney Brown said, “According to the charges, the defendant operated a motor vehicle without a driver’s license at excessive speed while under the influence of alcohol and caused the death of one of his passengers and injuries to two other passengers. The case is another example of the lethal consequences of drinking and driving.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Edgar Romero, 28, of 27-37 98th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, a supermarket clerk. The defendant has been charged with Vehicular Manslaughter in the First and Second Degree, Criminally Negligent Homicide, Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the First Degree, Assault in the Third Degree, Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs and Driving By Unlicensed Operator and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

The District Attorney said that the criminal complaint charges that the fatal incident took place on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 at about 5:45 p.m. It is alleged that the defendant was operating a 2005 Dodge Durango proceeding westbound on Northern Boulevard and the Grand Central Parkway in Corona, Queens, lost control of the vehicle, struck a highway pillar and a guardrail and flipped over, causing the death of Andres Piedraita, 24, and causing injuries to two other passengers, Edgar Bernard, 38, who sustained lacerations and abrasions to his head and Leslie Pena, 29, who sustained bruising to her head, chest and arms.

District Attorney Brown said that the complaint additionally charges that the defendant was driving at 45 miles per hour in a posted 30 miles per hour zone when he lost control of the vehicle. It is alleged that the defendant had bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech, an odor of alcohol on his breath and that an intoxilyzer test administered to the defendant resulted in a reading of .11 percent blood alcohol content. The legal limit in New York is .08 percent. It is further alleged that the defendant was driving without a license and that his license was suspended on four or more occasions, the last being June 25, 2002, and twice on April 20, 2001 for operating under the influence of liquor.

According to District Attorney Brown, it is additionally alleged that passenger Leslie Pena was in possession of crack cocaine that was recovered from her clothing while she was being treated at a local Queens Hospital for the injuries she sustained in the incident. Pena was arraigned on the charge of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree before Queens Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez and pled guilty to Disorderly Conduct. She was sentenced to a conditional discharge and ordered to perform 21 hours of community service.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendant was arraigned earlier today at Elmhurst Hospital before Queens Criminal Court Judge Deborah Stevens Modica who set bail at $75,000 and a return date of August 15, 2005.

The investigation was conducted by Police Officer Michael Perez of the New York City Police Department’s 110th Precinct.

Assistant District Attorney Vance T. Kuhner of the District Attorney’s Homicide Investigations Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter T. Reese, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Deputy Bureau Chief, and Richard B. Schaeffer, Senior Trial Attorney, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.

It should be noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.