PSC01242020 - Page 26

Driver arrested 10 months after Flatlands crash BY BEN VERDE Cops cuffed a 20-year-old man on Jan. 17, 10 months after he struck and killed a 63- year-old woman in Flatlands in March last year. Patricia Lancaster was driving on E. 56th Street at 4:40 pm on March 3, 2019, when the suspect smashed his 2007 Nissan Maxima into her grey Chevy as she crossed Avenue J. Investigators now believe that the driver blew a red light and was speeding at the time of the collision, cops said. Paramedics found Lancaster with severe trauma to her torso after cutting her out of her vehicle and performing CPR on her at the scene, before transferring her to Mount Sinai Brooklyn Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police. The driver, who was 19 at the time of the crash, stayed at the scene and was not initially charged. He now faces charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, three counts of speeding and two traffi c violations for blowing a red light and a stop sign. Lengthy investigations and long waits for indictments �� COURIER L 26 IFE, JANUARY 24-30, 2020 are not uncommon in the wake traffi c fatalities. Police waited two months before charging Dorothy Bruns — the Staten Island motorist who struck and killed two children and caused a pregnant woman to miscarriage after suffering a seizure behind the wheel and running a red light in 2018 — cuffi ng her in May 2018 following the deadly crash in March that year. Prosecutors eventually found that she had been driving against the advice of her doctor, which lead to her being charged with criminally negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, assault, and reckless driving. Bruns had a sketchy driving history leading up to the crash, including a dozen speeding tickets over two years and a hit-and-run fender bender mere weeks before the Park Slope tragedy. And a recent similar crash — in which a teenage driver barrelled his Dodge Charger through a red light on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood, striking another car which killed cyclist Jose Alzorriz — has still not resulted in any arrests, as police claim the investigation remains ongoing The Daily News reported that cops are seeking to throw the book at that teenage driver, but state law is complicating the case, and the charges may not amount to more than a few traffi c violations unless Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is willing to pursue an uphill battle, since the driver was not intoxicated at the time of the crash and stayed at the scene. Cops are seeking to determine just how fast that driver was going behind the wheel of his sports car when he blew the red light at Avenue L, as prosecutors look to slap him with as many charges as possible, according to the Daily News. The intersection where Lancaster was killed has seen four crashes over the past fi ve years, resulting in four injuries and one death. Police cuffed a 20-year-old man on Jan. 17, claiming he was speeding and ran a red light before smashing into Patricia Lancaster’s sedan, killing her. Photo by Steve Solomonson ��