Tribeca Car Crash: Manhattan DA Indicts Maryland Man For Murder

TRIBECA, NY — A driver accused of killing a woman while driving at more than 100 mph in Tribeca was indicted Thursday.

Sherman Harrison, 37, is charged with killing a 57-year-old woman in the fiery Tribeca car crash in December.

Harrison sparked a six-car crash on West Street while driving more than 100 miles-per-hour in an Audi A6 around 7:20 a.m. on Sat., Dec. 29, prosecutors said.

He's accused of ramming into Amy Phillipson's Honda CRV at West and Laight Sts., causing her car to flip and burst into flames. Paramedics pronounced Phillipson, from Mill Basin, Brooklyn, dead on the scene.

Harrison, from Maryland, continued northbound, striking a second car, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office. That car struck a third vehicle. Harrison's Audi A6 spun out hitting two more parked cars, prosectors said.

"The defendant is charged with murdering Ms. Phillipson in a horrific crime of traffic violence," Vance said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As this indictment alleges, he barreled down West Street at an outrageous speed — nearly four times the legal limit — and slammed into her SUV with such force that it caught fire and incinerated her. As this case tragically shows, this kind of driving poses a lethal danger to New Yorkers and will be prosecuted accordingly."

Vance's office indicted Harrison with second degree murder, second degree manslaughter, fleeing the scene without reporting and unlawful possession of guns.

Police found several rounds of ammunition and loaded .40 caliber and .9MM magazines in Harrison's car as well, according to Vance's office.

Phillipson's sister, Abbie Phillipson, told the New York Post at the time that she was a "great, simple, easy-going person," and "you'd be lucky to have her as a friend."

Two days after Phillipson died, the city touted a historic low of fewer than 200 traffic deaths — down from 221 in 2013. Though total deaths decreased, pedestrian and motorcycle deaths increased between 2017 and 2018.

Cyclist and motorist deaths, however, decreased, with the largest drop in Manhattan, where 27 people died from traffic crashes in 2018 — a 40 percent drop from 2017.

But though overall traffic deaths have decreased, some have criticized the Manhattan District Attorney for not pressing charges against drivers responsible for other traffic deaths.

Following the cycling death of 23-year-old Australian tourist Madison Jane Lyden on Central Park West, Lyden's mother, Amanda Berry, slammed Vance for failing to prosecute the taxi driver who blocked the unprotected bike lanes on Central Park West — despite the 20th Precinct police chief, Timothy Malin, saying police wanted to arrest the cab driver, Jose Peralta.

Vance's office cited a "gap in the law" as to why the DA was unable to prosecute the cabbie.

Image credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images Image caption: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. holds a press conference regarding global cyber security in New York City on Nov. 18, 2015.