FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Staten Island Man Sentenced to Three to Nine Years in Prison
For Causing Fatal Car Crash while Driving while Intoxicated
Defendant Was Speeding and Drove into Guardrail, Flipping Car and Ejecting Passenger
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Staten Island man has been sentenced to three to nine years in prison for causing a fatal car crash while driving while intoxicated. The defendant was speeding on the Belt Parkway, hit the guardrail and caused the car to flip, ejecting and killing a female passenger.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “What started as a night out with friends ended tragically, costing one woman her life. Three other passengers were lucky to survive. The defendant made a terrible decision when he got behind the wheel while drunk. He has now been held accountable for his actions.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Joseph Auteri, 21, of Lamont Avenue in Staten Island. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice James Sullivan to three to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in May.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on November 8, 2015, at approximately 6:30 a.m., the defendant was driving a car carrying four passengers on the eastbound side of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. The defendant was speeding in the left lane and then began to cross multiple lanes of traffic in an attempt to reach the exit at 65th Street and Fourth Avenue. As the car approached the exit, it struck the road’s guardrail, flipping over and ejecting a female passenger from the front seat.
The defendant and all passengers in the car were taken to Lutheran Hospital, where the victim was pronounced dead. The defendant had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and his blood alcohol level, at .11, was over the legal limit.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Natalie Riether of the District Attorney’s Trial Bureau Blue Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert Walsh, Chief.
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