Press Release

MAN CHARGED WITH VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER, DWI IN EARLY MORNING CRASH THAT KILLED HOSPITAL WORKER

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Alamin Ahmed, 22, has been arraigned on charges of vehicular manslaughter, driving while under the influence and other charges for the early Friday morning car crash that killed a hospital worker.

 

“Few choices are more selfish than driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” DA Katz said. “In this case, the defendant is accused of getting behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol and criminally disregarding the rules of the road with tragic, deadly results.”

 

Ahmed, of Central Avenue, Albany, New York, was arraigned today before Queens Criminal Court Judge Gene Lopez on an complaint charging him with manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and 2 counts of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Judge Lopez held the defendant on $25,000 cash, $25,000 bond and $250,000 partially secured bail and ordered him to return to court on November 25, 2020. If convicted, Ahmed faces up to 15 years in prison.

 

According to the charges, in the early morning hours of Friday, November 20, 2020, at Parsons Blvd. and Union Turnpike, Ahmed, who was driving a silver 2016 Mercedes Benz eastbound, at a high rate of speed, collided with a silver 2003 Toyota Camry, driven by the victim, Daniel Crawford, 52, of Bloomfield, New Jersey.  Video surveillance obtained depicted that the victim, who was driving southbound on Parsons Blvd., had a green light. A search warrant which was executed for the crash data recorder of the Mercedes Benz indicated that the defendant was traveling at 97 mph one second before the collision.

 

Continuing, said DA Katz, police officers responding to the incident administered a breathalyzer test on the defendant with the results indicating the defendant’s blood alcohol content was above the New York State legal limit of .08.

 

Mr. Crawford was immediately transported to a local Queens hospital where he was pronounced dead as a result of the injuries sustained in the collision.

 

Assistant District Attorney Kanella Georgopoulos of the District Attorney’s Felony Trials Bureau III is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Rachel E. Buchter, Deputy Chief along with Assistant District Attorney Adarna DeFrietas of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John W. Kosinski and Kenneth M. Appelbaum, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders and Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials Pishoy Yacoub.

**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.