An off-duty NYPD officer is accused of driving drunk and causing a crash on Sunday that left two sisters in critical condition and another passenger injured, CBS News reported yesterday.
Guyanese-born Vanessa Raghubar, 22, of Elmont, Queens, New York, who was driving the car, died yesterday, according to other online reports.
According to CBS, it was confirmed that 32-year-old police officer Neville Smith, who was driving a 2010 Mercedes-Benz, rear-ended Raghubar’s Honda as he merged onto the Van Wyck Expressway near Rockaway Boulevard shortly after 4 am on Sunday. Investigators said Smith was driving while intoxicated.
“It is very sad that a person of authority, a person who’s sworn to protect the people, was intoxicated and got himself involved in a situation like that,” Ravi Rattan, the priest for the victims’ family, told CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez, the report said.
Raghubar’s sister, Maria, and Maria’s boyfriend, Justin Harricharran, were in the backseat, CBS reported.
Family members had told CBS that Vanessa sustained the most severe injuries and was on life support at Jamaica Hospital. Maria is in critical condition with broken bones in her arms and pelvic area and severe injuries to her kidneys and intestines.
Harricharran sustained bumps and bruises and is expected to fully recover.
Relatives told CBS that the Raghubar sisters and their boyfriends were an inseparable foursome, and they were out on Saturday night celebrating Maria’s 21st birthday. Just a few minutes before the crash, Vanessa had dropped off her boyfriend.
On Sunday night, family and friends were joined by religious leaders, holding vigil at the hospital and trying to come to grips with the tragedy.
“We’re a very forgiving culture. The Hindu culture is a very forgiving culture. However, we are not very tolerant of people being intoxicated and operating vehicles,” CBS quoted Rattan as saying.
CBS said Smith, who has been a police officer for nearly six years and is currently assigned to the 48th Precinct detective squad in the Bronx, was charged with assault, vehicular assault, driving while intoxicated and refusing to take a breath test. He has also been suspended for 30 days without pay.
