Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota:
As District Attorney, I have aggressively prosecuted drunk and drug impaired drivers who kill and seriously injure other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians on our roads.
While much of my success is due to the difficult and painstaking work of police investigators, crime lab analysts and the prosecutors who handle these cases in court, significant changes in state law have given us the tools we need to charge, convict and send these dangerous offenders to prison.
Unfortunately in the past year a frightening trend has emerged that presents an equally serious threat to our County. Drivers are fleeing the scenes of crashes in alarming numbers leaving vulnerable cyclists and pedestrians alone to die without medical intervention or assistance. This past weekend one innocent pedestrian was killed and another seriously injured sustaining fractures and internal injuries, by drivers who fled the scene of each crash.
Sadly, today it actually benefits a driver who may be drunk or impaired by drugs to leave the scene. Why? Because a drunk or drug impaired driver who kills someone may face up to 25 years in prison. Fleeing allows a driver to either sober up before they are apprehended or to argue they consumed alcohol after a crash. Under current law any driver who flees where there is no proof of driving while intoxicated faces a maximum prison sentence of only seven years even when someone dies.
This profound encouragement to flee the scene must be eliminated.
Preston Mimms, a driver with a long history of alcohol abuse and two prior felony convictions for Robbery struck and killed a young woman and left the scene. When he was arrested, long after the crash, there was no evidence that he was intoxicated. He was charged with Leaving the Scene of an Accident with a fatality and faced a maximum punishment of seven years in prison. What’s more, the sentencing Judge could not enhance his sentence because of his prior robbery convictions.
If Mimms had stolen a package of Twinkies after breaking into a 7-11 he would be facing a much longer prison sentence, perhaps even a life sentence. There is something wrong with a criminal justice system that punishes a defendant more harshly for stealing a package of Twinkies than for stealing a life. This is unacceptable and the law needs to be changed.
Our friends, neighbors, co- workers and family members going about their daily routine have been killed and seriously injured by drivers who have no concern but to avoid criminal liability for drunk or drugged driving.
I call upon our state legislators to immediately act to protect their constituents. The incentive for fleeing the scene of a crash must be removed so that drivers face the same penalty they would if they stayed at the scene and were intoxicated or impaired by drugs. The law must also be changed to allow judges to enhance a defendant’s sentence for fleeing the scene of a crash when they have a prior felony record.
Members of the New York State Legislature, I implore you to change the law now. The fix is simple. It may save a life.