Man indicted in drunk driving death of White Plains pedestrian
An unexpected injury can have a devastating impact on you and your family. For more than two decades, the Law Office of Michael H. Joseph, PLLC in New York City, NY, and White Plains, NY, has vigorously represented people who have been hurt by the carelessness or wrongdoing of others, including pedestrians who were hit by cars.
An Elmsford man is facing charges in connection with the death of a pedestrian in White Plains. Glen Robinson, 26, is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter, one count of criminally negligent homicide and two counts of driving while intoxicated, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. On August 24, 2019, Bronx resident Susan Benjamin-Bailey was crossing the roadway by the Westchester County Center on her way to work early in the morning on Aug. 24 when she was struck by a car heading north on Central Avenue. She died from her injuries at White Plains Hospital. Robinson is accused of driving while intoxicated, hitting Benjamin-Bailey with his car and hitting the clock tower, knocking it over. He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries before being taken into custody. Robinson is due back in court on Jan. 7.
Robinson's actions appear to not only be negligent, but are also criminal because he violated several laws. New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law 1192, which is commonly known as the DWI law, makes it a crime to drive a car while you are either intoxicated, which means your ability to control the vehicle is rendered unsafe because of intoxication or if you have a blood alcohol level above .08. Likewise New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law 1146 requires drivers to operate vehicles in a safe manner to and take reasonable steps to avoid hitting pedestrians. Finally New York Penal Law 125.10 makes it a crime to cause the death of another by doing something in a reckless manner, including driving a car. When a pedestrian is hit by a drunk driver, it is a tragedy because this type of accident is preventable and only occurs because of stupidity. Our Westchester car accident lawyers have extensive experience in representing personal injury victims in drunk driving accidents. Our drunk driving accident lawyers also have significant experience in handling wrongful death cases.
In drunk driving cases, the defendant who was driving drunk is not the only person who should be sued. If the driver became intoxicated because of an illegal sale of alcohol, New York law also allows an injured party or the family of a person killed in a drunk driving accident to sue a bar that served an already intoxicated person or sold alcohol to a person who was under 21 years old. These cases are generally known as dram shop lawsuits. A full investigation of all parties that can be sued is necessary because often the defendant who drove drunk does not have enough insurance to pay for the damage which they caused. Our White Plains drunk driving accident lawyers have extensive experience in handling wrongful death cases, drunk driving accident cases and dram shop lawsuits.
One of the questions that our Westchester drunk driving car accident attorneys are asked is how can I find out if a bat is responsible for the accident. The first step is a thorough review of the police reports. Police reports, especially in a fatality case are usually very thorough and document where the driver was drinking and what they say they had. The next step is to analyze the results of the chemical test which will tell you what the drivers blood alcohol level was at the time of the accident. Once you know the driver blood alcohol level, you can extrapolate back to what their level was when they were at the bar and were served alcohol. Our White Plains wrongful death drunk driving accident lawyers hire toxicologists who can tell what symptoms of intoxication the driver would have been displaying based upon their blood alcohol levels, such as slurred speech, unsteadiness, glassy eyes and others. Based upon these impaired motor functions our attorneys are able to demonstrate a violation of the dram shop act. It is important to remember that the standard of causation for a dram shop case does not require that the illegal sale of alcohol be the only cause of the accident. To the contrary, so long as an illegal sale of alcohol played a role in causing the accident, the bar is responsible and can be sued.