Update: Danny Lin was sentenced to one and two-thirds to five years in prison. The sentence was “half of what prosecutors had argued for,” the Daily News reported.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance won a jury trial conviction for manslaughter in the case of a speeding motorist who killed a man walking on the Lower East Side in November of 2014.
Danny Lin, 25, was driving a BMW at 55 miles per hour on the Bowery when he hit 57-year-old Robert Perry as Perry crossed the Bowery near Rivington Street, "sending the victim’s body into the air before landing more than 140 feet away," according to Vance's office.
Lin kept driving until he crashed into a fire hydrant a block away, narrowly avoiding several pedestrians, Vance's office said.
Perry, who sometimes stayed at the nearby Bowery Mission, died at the hospital less than an hour after the collision.
Vance and NYPD initially charged Lin with homicide and leaving the scene. In 2015, Vance upgraded the top charge from homicide, a class E felony, to manslaughter, a class C felony. By the time the trial started, the homicide and leaving the scene charges had been dropped, according to court records, and manslaughter was the sole charge against Lin.
That Vance pursued a manslaughter charge and secured a conviction at trial in this case is noteworthy. It is uncommon for New York City district attorneys to charge drivers who kill people with manslaughter, unless the driver is impaired, fleeing police, killed the victim intentionally, or is also charged with leaving the scene. Persuading a jury to convict a sober driver for causing a death is no easy feat, even after a hit-and-run crash. According to data collected by Streetsblog, only a few times in recent years has a sober New York City driver received a manslaughter charge after being arrested at or near the scene of a fatal crash.
Said Vance in a statement:
This case serves as an unfortunate reminder of the risks associated with reckless driving and speeding. Danny Lin was fully aware of those risks as he hurtled down the Bowery at more than double the speed limit and took an innocent man’s life. He endangered the lives of pedestrians and drivers alike as he continued barreling down the street -- with no regard for our laws or the safety of his fellow New Yorkers -- before eventually crashing into a hydrant on a congested sidewalk, narrowly missing several bystanders. Because of the defendant’s recklessness and disregard for human life, my Office has fought to hold him accountable and will seek significant penalties for his criminal conduct.
A manslaughter conviction carries penalties ranging from probation to 15 years in prison. Lin is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
