trainwreckmolly
Bluelighter
Woman Killed Hailing Cab; Officer Held in Accident
By: CHRISTINE HAUSER
The New York Times
September 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/nyregion/28dwi.html?_r=2
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An off-duty police officer was charged on Sunday with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated after, according to the police and relatives, the sport utility vehicle he was driving struck and killed a Brooklyn woman who was hailing a taxi.
The officer, Andrew Kelly, 30, a seven-year veteran of the Police Department who worked in the 68th Precinct, was driving a Jeep Cherokee west on Avenue N in Mill Basin about 1 a.m. on Sunday with several passengers, including at least one other off-duty officer, the police said.
About 100 feet east of the intersection at East 56th Street in Flatlands, Officer Kelly’s vehicle struck the woman, Vionique Valnord, 32, as she tried to flag down a taxi after leaving a wedding reception, the police and witnesses said. Ms. Valnord was taken to Kings County Hospital Center in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.
Officer Kelly pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on Sunday night in Brooklyn Criminal Court. He was scheduled to appear again on Friday.
Judge John Wilson suspended Officer Kelly’s driver’s license and recommended that the officer receive mandatory alcohol counseling.
Officer Kelly initially refused a blood alcohol test at the scene, but later responded to a subpoena to be tested, a prosecutor said during the arraignment. The results of that test, taken at 8 a.m., were still pending Sunday night, a defense lawyer for Officer Kelly said.
Officer Kelly was released on $200,000 bond, and left the courthouse Sunday night without speaking to reporters.
The prosecutor also said that a sergeant who was at the scene reported that Officer Kelly had red, watery eyes and slurred speech, and that there was an odor of alcohol. The sergeant also reported seeing alcoholic beverages in the vehicle, the prosecutor said, although it was not noted in court if the containers were open.
A man who said he was Officer Kelly’s brother-in-law, and who declined to give his name, told reporters through the door at the extended family’s home in Flushing, Queens, that relatives said Officer Kelly “performed CPR on the woman” after the accident. The police could not immediately confirm that claim.
The man said Officer Kelly and his wife had once lived in the Flushing home but had moved.
At a news conference on Sunday morning, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at least one of the passengers in the Jeep was also an off-duty police officer. When that officer, whose name was not released, reported to his precinct station later in the day, he said he was in Officer Kelly’s vehicle at the time of the accident, officials said. Commissioner Kelly said that officer was being questioned.
The police said Officer Kelly was suspended without pay for 30 days. Late Sunday afternoon, the police said that the accident was still being investigated and that they did not have further information on the other passengers in the vehicle, where they were coming from and what their actions were after the crash, or whether anyone else would face charges.
Ms. Valnord’s father, Varius Valnord, who is a pastor at the Church of God on Rogers Avenue, in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, said witnesses told him that the car had hit her and thrown her some distance. “I went there, I saw what happened,” Mr. Valnord said. “People get hit but this was a complete crash.”
Ms. Valnord lived in an apartment above the Church of God, where on Sunday, Mr. Valnord, dressed in black, led morning services as planned, composed as he faced a congregation of nearly 100 people.
“I feel sad, very sad,” Mr. Valnord said later. “That is my only daughter. My daughter is a very nice young woman; she is very sweet.” Her father said he had no anger. “But I miss my daughter. This is not the way it should happen.”
Ms. Valnord, who, according to her father, loved to sing and attend Bible study, was born in East Flatbush. A neighbor who said she had known Ms. Valnord for more than a decade said: “She was outgoing, always bubbly, always positive. She was always kind.”
Regine Maziou, 21, Ms. Valnord’s sister-in-law, said that at the time of the accident, Ms. Valnord and others were leaving a wedding reception at the Floyd Bennett American Legion Post on Avenue N.
After an evening of dancing at the wedding reception for a member of her church, Ms. Valnord helped tidy up, stacking chairs. She then took her goddaughter, 5, outside and put her in a relative’s car, then tried to summon a taxi, Ms. Maziou said.
When she turned around to get a cab, she was hit, said Ms. Maziou, who was told about the accident in a telephone call after leaving the reception.
Vionique Valnord was fatally struck on Sunday as she was leaving a wedding reception. An off-duty officer has been charged.
By: CHRISTINE HAUSER
The New York Times
September 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/nyregion/28dwi.html?_r=2
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An off-duty police officer was charged on Sunday with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated after, according to the police and relatives, the sport utility vehicle he was driving struck and killed a Brooklyn woman who was hailing a taxi.
The officer, Andrew Kelly, 30, a seven-year veteran of the Police Department who worked in the 68th Precinct, was driving a Jeep Cherokee west on Avenue N in Mill Basin about 1 a.m. on Sunday with several passengers, including at least one other off-duty officer, the police said.
About 100 feet east of the intersection at East 56th Street in Flatlands, Officer Kelly’s vehicle struck the woman, Vionique Valnord, 32, as she tried to flag down a taxi after leaving a wedding reception, the police and witnesses said. Ms. Valnord was taken to Kings County Hospital Center in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.
Officer Kelly pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on Sunday night in Brooklyn Criminal Court. He was scheduled to appear again on Friday.
Judge John Wilson suspended Officer Kelly’s driver’s license and recommended that the officer receive mandatory alcohol counseling.
Officer Kelly initially refused a blood alcohol test at the scene, but later responded to a subpoena to be tested, a prosecutor said during the arraignment. The results of that test, taken at 8 a.m., were still pending Sunday night, a defense lawyer for Officer Kelly said.
Officer Kelly was released on $200,000 bond, and left the courthouse Sunday night without speaking to reporters.
The prosecutor also said that a sergeant who was at the scene reported that Officer Kelly had red, watery eyes and slurred speech, and that there was an odor of alcohol. The sergeant also reported seeing alcoholic beverages in the vehicle, the prosecutor said, although it was not noted in court if the containers were open.
A man who said he was Officer Kelly’s brother-in-law, and who declined to give his name, told reporters through the door at the extended family’s home in Flushing, Queens, that relatives said Officer Kelly “performed CPR on the woman” after the accident. The police could not immediately confirm that claim.
The man said Officer Kelly and his wife had once lived in the Flushing home but had moved.
At a news conference on Sunday morning, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at least one of the passengers in the Jeep was also an off-duty police officer. When that officer, whose name was not released, reported to his precinct station later in the day, he said he was in Officer Kelly’s vehicle at the time of the accident, officials said. Commissioner Kelly said that officer was being questioned.
The police said Officer Kelly was suspended without pay for 30 days. Late Sunday afternoon, the police said that the accident was still being investigated and that they did not have further information on the other passengers in the vehicle, where they were coming from and what their actions were after the crash, or whether anyone else would face charges.
Ms. Valnord’s father, Varius Valnord, who is a pastor at the Church of God on Rogers Avenue, in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, said witnesses told him that the car had hit her and thrown her some distance. “I went there, I saw what happened,” Mr. Valnord said. “People get hit but this was a complete crash.”
Ms. Valnord lived in an apartment above the Church of God, where on Sunday, Mr. Valnord, dressed in black, led morning services as planned, composed as he faced a congregation of nearly 100 people.
“I feel sad, very sad,” Mr. Valnord said later. “That is my only daughter. My daughter is a very nice young woman; she is very sweet.” Her father said he had no anger. “But I miss my daughter. This is not the way it should happen.”
Ms. Valnord, who, according to her father, loved to sing and attend Bible study, was born in East Flatbush. A neighbor who said she had known Ms. Valnord for more than a decade said: “She was outgoing, always bubbly, always positive. She was always kind.”
Regine Maziou, 21, Ms. Valnord’s sister-in-law, said that at the time of the accident, Ms. Valnord and others were leaving a wedding reception at the Floyd Bennett American Legion Post on Avenue N.
After an evening of dancing at the wedding reception for a member of her church, Ms. Valnord helped tidy up, stacking chairs. She then took her goddaughter, 5, outside and put her in a relative’s car, then tried to summon a taxi, Ms. Maziou said.
When she turned around to get a cab, she was hit, said Ms. Maziou, who was told about the accident in a telephone call after leaving the reception.
Vionique Valnord was fatally struck on Sunday as she was leaving a wedding reception. An off-duty officer has been charged.
Poor lady...
. Just pointing out exactly what you said, a level of seperation between citizens and LEOs. It's sick and they should get more of a sentnece for abusing the publics trust as we pay their salaries.
Absolutely man hehe! Nothing like a good high 5 every now n again 
