FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Driver who Crashed Car on Brooklyn Expressway and
Left Young Woman for Dead Sentenced to State Prison
Vehicle Exploded, Defendant Fled Scene in a Cab without Calling 911
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 24-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to up to 12 years in state prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter for causing a car crash on the Gowanus Expressway and fleeing the scene with his passenger stranded inside the burning car, leaving her to die.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant’s senseless and reckless actions caused the death of a young woman who had her entire life ahead of her. He showed complete disregard for human life and for the safety of everyone using our roadways. Hopefully, the victim’s heartbroken family will find some solace with today’s sentencing.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Saeed Ahmad, 24, of Marine Park, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice to an indeterminate term of four to 12 years in prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on November 27, 2018.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on October 13, 2017 at approximately 4 a.m., the defendant was driving an Infinity sedan, returning from a night out in Manhattan with a friend, 25-year-old Harleen Grewal.
The defendant was driving at an excessive rate of speed, attempted to pass other vehicles and crashed his car into a side barrier between the Hamilton Avenue and the Prospect Expressway exits, causing it to explode and burst into flames, the evidence showed. He got out of the burning car, got into a cab and left without calling 911 or alerting anyone that the victim was still in the vehicle. She subsequently died and her remains were recovered from the scene after the fire was put out.
The defendant was arrested later that morning and tests determined that his blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was above the legal limit of .08.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Theresa Shanahan, Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Joseph Mancino, also of the Blue Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert Walsh, Bureau Chief.
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