A Long Island man was sentenced to up to 12 years in prison Wednesday for the DWI-related death of a Nassau County cop — even though he wasn’t driving the car that killed the officer.
Police Officer Joseph Olivieri was responding to two crashes caused by James Ryan’s drunken driving, jurors found in January, when another driver slammed into Ryan’s car on the Long Island Expressway and then fatally struck Olivieri.
”I want to say to the Olivieri family, words don’t express how deeply sorry I am for your loss,” a choked-up Ryan told relatives of the officer in the courtroom. “And the officer was a very great man and I deeply regret he lost his life that night.”
Ryan’s teary-eyed parents sat behind him throughout the hour-long hearing. Under sentencing guidelines, he’ll serve a minimum of five years. The 29-year-old had faced up to 20 years in prison on the 10 counts on which he was convicted.
“James Ryan does deserve to be here,” said Assistant District Attorney Maureen McCormick. “His refusal to accept any blame borders on delusion.”
The case was closely watched by legal experts, who said it was rare for someone other than the driver to be charged in a crash. The charges were based on the legal principle of “causation/foreseeability,” in which suspects are charged in events that are foreseeable results of their actions.
In one such case from 1994, a New York City man was convicted of murder in the death of an officer who had been chasing after him in a robbery investigation and fell to his death through a skylight.
A jury found Ryan guilty of charges including aggravated criminally negligent homicide, vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and reckless endangerment.
However, they acquitted him of the most serious charge — aggravated vehicular homicide, which was initially tossed by a judge, who was later overruled on appeal.
Ryan’s attorney said Wednesday he was filing notice to appeal the conviction and would request the sentence be stayed. Called to the scene, Olivieri was outside his patrol car talking with Ryan when an SUV smashed into the Toyota and then fatally struck the cop. Prosecutors said Ryan’s blood-alcohol level was 0.13, far higher the state’s threshold of .08.
After a night of drinking in New York City, Ryan got behind the wheel of his Toyota and crashed into a BMW on the Long Island Expressway, the first in a chain of accidents. He then traveled almost another mile down the road before stopping, where he was hit by another car.
During the trial, defense attorney Marc Gann argued the SUV driver failed to avoid crashing into the wreckage from Ryan’s earlier accident.
That driver was never charged.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
With the extremely high traffic volume on the Long Island Expressway 24/7, with drivers routinely leaving much too little following distance, anything that goes wrong, even if everyone was sober, anything can turn into a chain reaction collision involving many vehicles.
And add one semi traveling at 50 or 60 mph, things occasionally get very ugly.
There are now overhead electronic signs that CAN be used to warn drivers of a collision and sudden stop ahead. But not enough.
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
So, was he charged because his accident was caused by a DUI? What if it was just a regular accident caused by sun glare (but still your fault) and the cop was hit. What if the cop chose you out of 25 speeders to pull over and got hit - is his death your fault because you were speeding and got caught and he was pulling you over?
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
So, was he charged because his accident was caused by a DUI? What if it was just a regular accident caused by sun glare (but still your fault) and the cop was hit. What if the cop chose you out of 25 speeders to pull over and got hit - is his death your fault because you were speeding and got caught and he was pulling you over?
Those scenarios worry me too.
I was sued once for a collision my son was NOT involved in while he was driving a car I owned.
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
