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After Plowing Through Old Lady's House, Dude In Benz Offered Her A Handshake
By
John Del Signore
Published May 30, 2012
Modified May 30, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 30, 2012
Modified May 30, 2012
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After his girlfriend drove his mother's Mercedez Benz convertible straight through an elderly woman's Long Island home, local bartender Dan Sajewski, 23, did his best to smooth things over. "My grandmother came down and there was the passenger from the car — some guy she had never seen — standing in her kitchen," the granddaughter of Helen Indiere, 96, tells the Post. It was Sajewski, courteously waiting to greet his hostess.
According to the Post, Sajewski was visiting his family’s Huntington estate last weekend with his girlfriend, Sophia Anderson, 21. After his parents split for the North Fork, Sajewski took his mother's Benz out for a spin, hitting a party on Sunday night. Around 4 a.m., Anderson got behind the wheel. When she plowed through the front of Indiere's house, through the kitchen, out the back wall and into a tree in the back yard, police say her blood alcohol level was .30—nearly four times the legal limit and the equivalent of about 15 drinks.
Anderson sustained minor injuries, and Sajewski walked away without a scratch. When Indiere emerged to see what had happened, he was waiting. Indiere's granddaughter tells the Post, “She asked him, ‘Who are you? Why are you in my kitchen?’ And the guy said, ‘I can’t answer any questions, I’ve just been in an accident.’ Then he tried to shake her hand!” It's unclear whether Indiere offered her gentleman caller a beer, but that may have been difficult, since most of her kitchen appliances were blasted into the back yard.
Anderson, who lives in Bushwick and waits tables for a living, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Tuesday and is being held on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond. She's charged with driving while intoxicated and speeding, and prosecutors are considering more serious charges. "She parties a lot,” one neighbor tells the Post. "I’ve seen her up on the roof drinking a bunch. About two weeks ago, I saw her on the subway. It was about 4:35 in the morning. She was passed out on the subway. I had to shake her to wake her up so she wouldn’t miss her stop."
But Anderson's attorney says the accident was caused by a power steering malfunction, not inebriation. “That field breath test is inadmissible in a court of law, not scientifically reliable, so not admissible and I don’t need to rebut that,” attorney John LoTurco told CBS 2. "She’s extremely upset, very remorseful and very grateful no one was injured in this accident. She’s very scraped up. Physically she’s fine, emotionally she’s very upset."
Sajewski was not charged, but according to the Southampton Press he was arrested three years ago for selling ecstasy to an undercover cop. “We can’t believe he just let this girl drive a car he wasn’t even supposed to have in the first place,” a Sajewski family member tells the Post. "He’s not exactly the model son... His dad is really upset. He had to hurry back home from the North Fork to deal with this." Wow, you know what else sucks? Because of Sajewski and his girlfriend, Indiere's home is going to be condemned.
Tagged
Dan Sajewski
dwi
huntington
long island
memorial day
Sophia Anderson
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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