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Granny Killing Cop Gets 3-9 Years Behind Bars
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 15, 2013
Modified Mar 15, 2013
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CBS
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 15, 2013
Modified Mar 15, 2013
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In December a jury found ex-NYPD detective Kevin Spellman guilty of second-degree manslaughter for drunkenly running down and killing 66-year-old Bronx grandmother Drane Nikac in 2009. Today Spellman was sentenced to spend the next three to nine years in prison for his crimes.
"My grandmother will never be back and I hope, I really hope this will prevent it from happening again," granddaughter Sarah Junjuc told a judge today. Spellman had been facing a maximum of five to 15 years in jail and the discrepancy has some of Nikac's family upset. "The sentence was much too light—if you’re a citizen you get 5 to 15 years. If you are a police officer you get a discount," Nikac’s son-in law John Dushaj told the Post.
"I would like to express my deep and profound apology to the family in this moment you are the only people that matter," Spellman told the packed courtroom today before being sentenced. "My actions alone-combined with the fact that I don’t have any ability to make it right-makes this anguish a thousand times worse. As I stand here today after this please know that I would’ve never left your mom to die alone on the street to save myself—never!"
Around 6 a.m. on October 30, 2009, Spellman drunkenly smashed his car into Nikac, who was crossing West 232nd Street. At the time it was reported that he Nikac "went head-first into Spellman's windshield-leaving a basketball-sized dent in the glass-and then over the roof of the car. Her right leg was partially severed by the impact." After the incident Spellman, at the time a distinguished 22-year NYPD veteran, refused a breathalyzer test. Six hours later, however, his blood alcohol was at 0.21 (0.08 is the legal limit).
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drane nikac
drunk driving
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Justice
kevin spellman
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Garth Johnston
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