Driver Pleads Guilty to Wrong-Way Crash
Posted By
Karen on Jul 26, 2011 3:01pm PDT
Deer Park man has plead guilty to driving drunk for nearly 12 miles in the wrong direction on the Long Island Expressway then crashing into the center median and killing his friend in last year.
The 28-yar-old pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and
DWI in a plea deal for 5 to 15-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors said he was driving his vehicle westbound in the eastbound HOV lane after he had entered the LIE on Sept. 6, 2010. The passenger was killed when he crashed head-on into the median near the Sunnyside Boulevard overpass. The impact of the crash sheared off the right half of his vehicle.
The vehicle's crash data recorder confirmed that Cruz was driving up to 112 mph before the crash, investigators said.