Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
16-48 Month Prison Sentence For Driver Who Put Bloomberg Aide In Vegetative State
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 8, 2011
Modified Aug 8, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 8, 2011
Modified Aug 8, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
In February of last year a 22-year-old Bloomberg aide, Erinn Phelan, was struck by a 1993 Acura Legend after pushing a friend out of the car's path. Phelan remains in a vegetative state but today, at least, her family saw some justice served against the woman who was driving the Acura, 30-year-old Frances Jasmin. "You must be punished in the most-severe way, but it hardly seems adequate," Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Joseph McKay said before imposing the maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to four years behind bars for the class D felony of leaving the scene of an accident. The judge also recommended that her driver's license be revoked forever.
McKay went on to call Jasmin's actions "despicably irresponsible, dangerous and cowardly from start to finish." After hitting Phelan, Jasmin stuck around the scene for a little while and made between 50 and 70 phone calls. But not one was to 911—they were all to friends she'd just been at a bar with.
Today's sentencing also included emotional pleas from Phelan's mother and sister, who talked of how her Erinn went "from being a young woman who held her head up high, to a person in a persistent vegetative state who can't hold her head at all."
"You have deprived Erinn of a promising future," Phelan's mother told Jasmin in court. "You may have been found guilty, but Erinn is serving the maximum sentence."
Tagged
brooklyn
coma
erinn phelan
frances jasmin
hit and run
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Queens man charged with hate crime at Jewish-owned bagel shop displaying Israeli flags
Prosecutors say the 22-year-old damaged property outside the Fresh Meadows shop twice in May.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 6:07 p.m. ET
MTA train yards are in such bad shape plants are growing out of the roof, watchdog says
In some cases, the damage was “clearly not recent."
By
Stephen Nessen
News
MTA train yards are in such bad shape plants are growing out of the roof, watchdog says
In some cases, the damage was “clearly not recent."
By
Stephen Nessen
High-ranking NYC officials to testify in ex-buildings boss Eric Ulrich's corruption trial
By
David Brand
Mamdani launches new team to help NYers keep SNAP, Medicaid benefits
By
Caroline Lewis
Riders at 53rd St. station where man was fatally shot say they worry about gun violence
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .