Crime & Safety
Wrong-way Driver Indicted On Vehicular Assault Charge In Putnam
He also faces a felony drunken driving charge over a crash on Route 9D in June.
An unlicensed driver accused of injuring a woman and her three children while driving drunk this summer has been indicted, Putnam County District Attorney Robert V. Tendy announced Friday.
Elmer Medina, 44, faces charges of Aggravated Vehicular Assault and Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, both Felonies.
Prosecutors allege that Medina, driving without a license, was driving on the wrong side of Route 9D in Philipstown June 29 during the evening rush hour. He crashed head on, and at a high rate of speed, into a car coming the other way.
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All involved in the crash were sent to the hospital, including Medina.
The mother who was driving required surgery on her neck and two of her three children suffered injuries and burns, prosecutors said.
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The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicholas LaStella. The Spring Valley resident faces up to 5-15 years in state prison if convicted.
Tendy thanked the New York State police and Investigator Jaemie Caban of the Putnam County
District Attorney’s Office for their work in the case.
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