Date: 11/7/2008
By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press Writer
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) _ A teenager on drugs and driving a sport utility vehicle slammed into two runners out for an evening jog, killing one of them — a beloved schoolteacher — and seriously injuring her friend, police said Friday.
Shea Rosen, a 19-year-old from the exclusive village of Brookville on Long Island, was being held in lieu of $1 million bond after pleading not guilty to driving under the influence.
Rosen’s attorney, former federal prosecutor Joseph Conway, declined to comment on the high bond amount but said his client’s family was unlikely to post it Friday.
Rosen, who works as a busboy and waiter at a Huntington restaurant, had no prior criminal record, his lawyer and police said.
Amanda Malloy, a 29-year-old who competed in triathlons and taught fourth grade at John F. Kennedy Intermediate School in Deer Park, was pronounced dead at a hospital after being run down about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Her running companion, Vincent Saunders, 32, of Huntington, was hospitalized and not expected to survive, Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Avemaria Thompson said at Rosen’s arraignment.
The prosecutor said police smelled marijuana on Rosen’s breath after the accident on a busy stretch of a Huntington highway.
More than 12 hours after the accident, Rosen’s 2000 Dodge Durango remained at the accident scene, and a lone woman’s jogging sneaker lay on the pavement nearby.
Three unidentified pills were found in Rosen’s sock, Thompson said. She said Rosen told police he didn’t see the joggers in the road.
Rosen, whose Facebook page features a photo of him flipping his middle finger to the camera, was initially charged with driving under the influence of drugs, but the prosecutor said upgraded charges were likely.
Conway said his office was still trying to ascertain what happened. “Our hearts, of course, go out to the victims’ families,” he said.
Malloy’s sister-in-law described her as a physical fitness enthusiast who often competed in triathlons and was an expert in the martial arts.
“Her life was exercising,” said Christine MacQuarrie, who also taught at Kennedy. “It is ironic that she died doing what she loved.”
Saunders and Malloy were friends who attended the same karate school and shared the same interests in exercise, MacQuarrie said.
Deer Park School Superintendent Elizabeth Marino said in a statement that grief counselors were at the school for staff and students.
“As an expert in the martial arts, she took pride in sharing her knowledge with students through well-received assemblies,” Marino said. “Amanda was loved and admired by her colleagues and students alike and highly respected by administration.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Evansville Woman Dies in Crash with County Coroner Vehicle
Date: 10/31/2008
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Marguerite Stewart, 89, was fatally injured when the car she was riding in struck a pickup truck belonging to the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s office. Coroner Don Erk said the cause of death appeared to be head trauma, but that the Warrick County coroner would handle the investigation and follow-up with family because one of Erk’s staff vehicles was involved.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Marguerite Stewart, 89, was fatally injured when the car she was riding in struck a pickup truck belonging to the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s office. Coroner Don Erk said the cause of death appeared to be head trauma, but that the Warrick County coroner would handle the investigation and follow-up with family because one of Erk’s staff vehicles was involved.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Santa Fe Opera settles suit over wrong-way crash
Date: 10/23/2008 7:14 PM
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) _ The Santa Fe Opera and the estate of an employee have reached a settlement with relatives of a family killed in a drunken, wrong-way interstate crash triggered by the worker, who was returning from a business trip.
The attorney for the opera, Michael W. Brennan, characterized the settlements reached this year as “substantial” but said the exact amount is confidential.
Opera employee Dana Papst drove the wrong way on Interstate 25 south of Santa Fe in November 2006 and crashed into a minivan. He died the next morning.
The crash also killed the van’s driver, Paul Gonzales of Las Vegas, N.M.; his wife, Renee Collins-Gonzales and three of their children. Arissa Garcia, then 15, survived.
Tests showed Papst’s blood-alcohol content was four times the legal limit for driving.
Papst had been seen drinking on a US Airways flight to Albuquerque that day, and other passengers said he appeared to be drunk.
Police have said that after the flight landed, Papst bought a six-pack of beer in Bernalillo and drove north, eventually turning off the northbound lanes and driving the wrong way for five miles before striking the van.
The opera’s insurance company chose to settle the case rather than go to trial.
Court records show that Ever Ready Oil Co., Chevron Redi-Mart in Bernalillo and US Airways remain defendants in the lawsuit.
The state Department of Public Safety cited the Chevron Redi-Mart after the crash. The store, which later closed, was owned by Ever Ready Oil.
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Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Austrian rightist was speeding at twice limit
Date: 10/12/2008 10:45 AM
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ Far-right politician Joerg Haider was speeding at more than twice the posted limit before the car crash that killed him, investigators said Sunday as his grief-stricken party appointed a successor.
Flowers, notes and other tributes piled up at the scene of the crash that killed the former leader of the Freedom Party, whose anti-immigration stance and provocative praise of the Nazi era once led the European Union to slap Austria with diplomatic sanctions.
Police reconstructing Saturday’s accident in the southern province of Carinthia, where Haider was governor, said the speedometer in the wreckage of Haider’s high-powered Volkswagen Phaeton limousine was stuck at 142 kph (88 mph).
The speed limit at the crash site is just 70 kph (43 mph), and it drops to 50 kph (31 mph) just 100 meters (yards) further down the road in the direction Haider was heading.
Prosecutor Gottfried Kranz said the high speed appeared to be the main factor in the crash that killed the 58-year-old politician.
“Any speculation about other causes of the accident is weak,” Kranz said, adding that the car was technically sound and police had no reason to suspect foul play.
Police said the car veered off the road after Haider overtook another vehicle, then struck a concrete pillar and rolled over. Haider, who was alone in the car, suffered multiple injuries and died while being rushed to a hospital.
Haider left the Freedom Party a few years ago to found the rightist Alliance for the Future of Austria, which captured about 11 percent of the vote in last month’s national elections.
Visibly shaken party leaders gathered in Vienna on Sunday to name the Alliance’s secretary-general, Stefan Petzner, as Haider’s successor.
Haider had expressed a wish that the party carry on should anything ever happen to him, “and we owe it to him to fulfill that obligation,” another Haider deputy, Herbert Scheibner, told reporters.
It remained unclear what impact Haider’s death would have on talks to form a new coalition government.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ Far-right politician Joerg Haider was speeding at more than twice the posted limit before the car crash that killed him, investigators said Sunday as his grief-stricken party appointed a successor.
Flowers, notes and other tributes piled up at the scene of the crash that killed the former leader of the Freedom Party, whose anti-immigration stance and provocative praise of the Nazi era once led the European Union to slap Austria with diplomatic sanctions.
Police reconstructing Saturday’s accident in the southern province of Carinthia, where Haider was governor, said the speedometer in the wreckage of Haider’s high-powered Volkswagen Phaeton limousine was stuck at 142 kph (88 mph).
The speed limit at the crash site is just 70 kph (43 mph), and it drops to 50 kph (31 mph) just 100 meters (yards) further down the road in the direction Haider was heading.
Prosecutor Gottfried Kranz said the high speed appeared to be the main factor in the crash that killed the 58-year-old politician.
“Any speculation about other causes of the accident is weak,” Kranz said, adding that the car was technically sound and police had no reason to suspect foul play.
Police said the car veered off the road after Haider overtook another vehicle, then struck a concrete pillar and rolled over. Haider, who was alone in the car, suffered multiple injuries and died while being rushed to a hospital.
Haider left the Freedom Party a few years ago to found the rightist Alliance for the Future of Austria, which captured about 11 percent of the vote in last month’s national elections.
Visibly shaken party leaders gathered in Vienna on Sunday to name the Alliance’s secretary-general, Stefan Petzner, as Haider’s successor.
Haider had expressed a wish that the party carry on should anything ever happen to him, “and we owe it to him to fulfill that obligation,” another Haider deputy, Herbert Scheibner, told reporters.
It remained unclear what impact Haider’s death would have on talks to form a new coalition government.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.