Nassau DA: Hempstead Woman Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Driving into Group of People

LongIsland.com

Shania Buchanan, 24, drove into a group of people, killing one and injuring two others in April 2016, officials report.

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The Nassau DA reports that Shania Buchanan of Hempstead, 24, has been sentenced for assault and manslaughter.

Photo by: Nassau County Police Department

Mineola, NY - April 13, 2018 - Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Hempstead woman was sentenced today to 17 years in prison for driving into a group of people, killing one and injuring two others in April 2016.
 
Shania Buchanan, 24, was convicted by a jury on February 28 of:
 
  • Assault in the First Degree (a B violent felony)
  • Manslaughter in the Second Degree (an C felony)
  • Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree (a D felony)
  • Assault in the Second Degree (a D felony)
  • Assault in the Third Degree (an A misdemeanor)
  • Reckless Driving (an unclassified misdemeanor)
The trial, before Judge Fran Ricigliano, lasted four weeks and the jury deliberated for approximately a day and a half. Judge Ricigliano sentenced the defendant to 17 years in prison on the Assault in the First Degree charge and five years to 15 years in prison on the Manslaughter in the Second Degree charge. Those sentences will run concurrently.
 
“The jury found Buchanan drove wildly through Nassau County streets to join a neighborhood brawl killing Barbara Reid and severely injuring Betty Sanders and Jose Mena in the process,” DA Singas said. “I hope today’s sentence will stand as a reminder that this office will not tolerate the taking of innocent lives by selfish, criminally reckless drivers.”
 
DA Singas said on April 20, 2016 at 5:00 p.m., the defendant drove through a crowd of people standing just off the curb on Linden Avenue in Hempstead, killing 56-year-old Barbara Reid and seriously injuring two others. At the time of the incident, the defendant was recklessly driving to the scene where her mother was involved in a fight with another woman. A crowd of 40 to 50 people, including Reid, gathered to watch the fight.
 
The defendant was driving between 60 and 70 miles an hour as she accelerated toward the crowd, first striking 45-year-old Betty Sanders, and then 60-year-old Jose Mena who was on his bicycle. Buchanan’s 1999 Nissan Pathfinder then hit Reid, ultimately killing her. Mena suffered spinal fractures and the force of the impact snapped Sander’s femur and caused muscular damage that will cause her to limp for the rest of her life.
 
The defendant was arrested June 9, 2016 by Nassau County Police.
 
Deputy Bureau Chief Michael Bushwack and Senior Assistant District Attorney Stefanie Palma of DA Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting this case. The defendant is represented by Jeffrey Groder, Esq.