Drunk Driver Avoids Homicide Charge in Brooklyn Pedestrian Death [Updated]

A motorist who has admitted to driving drunk in a crash that killed a Brooklyn pedestrian was not charged with homicide by District Attorney Charles Hynes or his successor Ken Thompson. He was allowed to plead guilty this week to a top charge of misdemeanor DWI, court records say, and faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail.

At around 12:25 a.m. on July 5, 2013, 27-year-old Roxana Gomez was walking at Flatbush Avenue and St. Marks Avenue when she was hit by a BMW sedan driven by Eric Nesmith, according to witness accounts and the Post. Gomez suffered massive head injuries, and was administered CPR by an emergency room nurse who lived near the scene. She died on July 10.

The Post reported that Nesmith, 25, of Newark, ”admitted to cops he had consumed up to six Coronas at a family gathering” before the crash. His BAC was .126, the Post said.

According to online court records, Nesmith pled guilty Thursday to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, an unclassified misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, and a license revocation of at least six months.

It is unclear why this defendant was not charged for killing someone while driving drunk. Streetsblog contacted the Brooklyn district attorney’s office several times regarding this case, by phone and email, but public relations staff stopped responding to our queries not long after the crash. We have another message in with Thompson’s office concerning the Nesmith plea.

Nesmith is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25.

Update: We received the following statement from Thompson’s office: “An accident reconstruction expert concluded that alcohol was not a contributing factor in the death of the pedestrian in this case.”