Drunk Driver In Fatal BQE Crash Charged With Manslaughter: DA

BROOKLYN, NY — A drunk driver who crashed her sports car while speeding down the Brooklyn Queens Expressway earlier this year — killing a passenger inside — has been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors announced.

Chelsea Rety, 22, was arraigned Friday on manslaughter and criminally-negligent homicide charges for the January crash, which killed 23-year-old Saharath Yuvanavattana and left Rety and another passenger injured.

Rety, who is from Copiague on Long Island, had been driving her Toyota Scion as fast as 102 mph on the highway when she lost control near the Flushing Avenue exit in Brooklyn, prosecutors said.

“This defendant made a terrible decision to allegedly get behind the wheel of a car after drinking alcohol and traveling at an incredibly high rate of speed," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "She showed complete disregard for the safety of her passengers and everyone using our roadways. I am committed to keeping our streets and highways safe and will now seek to hold this defendant accountable.”

Rety was driving eastbound on the BQE at 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 22 with Yuvanavattana in the front seat and another friend, a 24-year-old man, in the back passenger seat when she crashed into a barrier on the highway on the passenger side of the car, prosecutors said.

Yuvanavattana was taken to the hospital, but died a short time later. Rety suffered a broken arm and the other passenger had non-life threatening injuries, prosecutors said.

According to investigators, Rety had a blood alcohol level of about .09, above the legal limit of .08 at the time of the crash.

If she is convicted to the top count, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

Rety was released on $75,000 bail and was ordered to return to court on June 2, 2021, prosecutors said.