Press Release

QUEENS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO VEHICULAR HOMICIDE FOR CRASH THAT KILLED MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Tyrone Absolam, 42, has pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide for causing the death of a female motorist and her daughter during a July 24, 2021 vehicle collision on Rockaway Boulevard.

District Attorney Katz said, “In pleading guilty, the defendant has taken responsibility for the vehicle collision that resulted in the tragic deaths of a mother and her young daughter. No amount of accountability will heal the pain felt by this loss, but I hope today’s plea and subsequent sentencing will provide a measure of closure to the loved ones of both victims. The defendant now faces prison time and additional security provisions – which include a revoked license and ignition interlock device – for his reckless actions.”

Absolam, of 133rd Avenue, Queens, pleaded guilty this morning before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael B. Aloise to aggravated vehicular homicide. Judge Aloise ordered the defendant to return to Court on September 15th, 2022 and is expected to sentence the defendant to a term of 5 to 15 years in prison.

District Attorney Katz said on July 24, 2021, at approximately 8:45 p.m., the defendant was driving well above the posted speed limit on Rockaway Boulevard in a 2018 gray Nissan Altima. The victim, Diana Granobles, 31, was making a left turn at the intersection of Rockaway and Guy R. Brewer Boulevards when Absolam collided with her Chevy Cruze automobile. The woman’s 10-year-old daughter was in the car with her at the time.

Both the mother and child were rushed to an area hospital but could not be saved.

Continuing, DA Katz said, the posted speed limit at this location is 35 mph but the defendant was traveling at 94 mph two seconds before crashing into the victim’s car. In addition, the defendant’s blood alcohol level was .15 – above the legal limit of .08.

Assistant District Attorney Dylan Nesturrick of the District Attorney’s Felony Trials II Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Rosemary Chao, Deputy Bureau Chief, Assistant District Attorney Mark Osnowitz, Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Felony Trials Pishoy B. Yacoub.