Montauk Woman Sentenced to Prison for Driving Drunk, Killing Bicyclist in Motor Vehicle Crash

LongIsland.com

Defendant had BAC of .18% at time of fatal crash; was found in possession of cocaine.

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Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini has announced the sentencing of a Montauk woman for driving while intoxicated and killing a bicyclist in a motor vehicle crash in Montauk in 2019.
 
“Every single time you get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated or impaired, you assume the risk that you could kill someone,” District Attorney Sini said. “It’s reckless, it’s selfish, and it’s entirely avoidable. The victim was simply making his way home from work when his life was tragically cut short by this defendant’s actions. No family should have to endure the loss of a loved one due to drunk driving, and we will continue to hold those individuals accountable who endanger the safety of our roadways.”
 
Lisa Rooney, 32, pleaded guilty on March 19 to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, a class B felony; Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a class C felony; Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, an unclassified misdemeanor; and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree, a class A misdemeanor. She was sentenced today by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro to three to nine years in prison.
 
At approximately 6 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2019, Rooney was driving a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado northbound on Flamingo Avenue in Montauk when she veered into the oncoming lane of traffic then overcorrected, driving onto the shoulder of the roadway on the northbound side and striking a bicyclist. Rooney then struck the guardrail on the northbound shoulder and drove up an embankment before the vehicle rolled over.
 
The bicyclist, John James Usma Quintero, 28, of Montauk, was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
 
Rooney refused a roadside breath test and refused to submit to a chemical test of her blood; however, the District Attorney’s Office secured a warrant for a chemical test of Rooney’s blood, which revealed a blood alcohol content level of 0.18 percent approximately three and one-half hours after the crash occurred.
 
East Hampton Town Police officers who responded to the scene of the crash recovered several bags of cocaine near Rooney’s vehicle and one bag of cocaine on the floorboard of her vehicle.
 
A forensic evaluation of Rooney’s vehicle revealed that she was driving at a speed of approximately 85 mph at the time of the crash.
 
Rooney was represented by Marc Gann.
 
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys James Curtin and David Geller, of the Vehicular Crime Bureau.
 
A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.