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Jennifer Plutzer, 24, was arrested by Nassau County Police last week for driving while intoxicated, but the case is still under investigation because she allegedly struck and killed a man.
At about 1:12 a.m. on Thursday, March 21, Inmar Herrera of Hicksville was crossing the street at Franklin and Fulton Avenues in Hicksville and was allegedly struck by Plutzer, police said. Herrera, who lived with his wife and Sylvia Carcamo and four-year-old son Yordi, was out with friends that night at local bar.
According to police officials, Plutzer was driving a silver 2001 Honda Civic and allegedly struck Herrera as he was crossing from east to west. Herrera was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, where he was pronounced dead at 1:33 a.m.
From the damage to the vehicle and the severity of the injuries to the pedestrian, it appeared she never attempted to slow down, said Det. Richard Laursen of the Nassau Homicide Squad.
At the scene, Plutzer was given a portable breath test and a Intoxilizer test was given later at police headquarters. Both tests showed that her blood-alcohol concentration was above the legal limit of .10.
"Basically, if you're drunk it's your fault," said a homicide squad spokesperson Jim Sergino.
Police said it was unclear whether or not Plutzer exceeded the 30 mph speed limit. An accident reconstruction will be conducted to determine more details.
Plutzer of Atlantic Avenue was arraigned at the First District Court on Thursday, but pled not guilty to the DWI charges.
"We always charge a person with DWI first, before we do anything else, Sergino said. If she is responsible for his death she would be charged with vehicular manslaughter.
There has been no upgrade on this case, said Nassau District Attorney spokesperson, Rick Henshaw. The investigation is sill ongoing."
It's been almost a year since Edward Perri got behind the wheel of his Honda Civic while he was under the influence of marijuana. In his case the accident killed two of his own passengers and injuring the driver and passenger of another car.
Just two weeks ago Perri was sentence to two consecutive sentences of 2-6 years. He was charged and convicted of vehicular manslaughter, the same crime Plutzer is being investigated for.
