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SUV Driver Who Killed Woman On Fort Greene Sidewalk Gets To Keep His License
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 11, 2016
Modified Jan 11, 2016
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Max Rivlin-Nadler / Gothamist
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 11, 2016
Modified Jan 11, 2016
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A Brooklyn judge said on Monday that the SUV driver who fatally struck a young woman on a Fort Greene sidewalk last month can keep his license.
"There are no allegations of the defendant recklessly driving," said Criminal Court Judge Marguerite Dougherty in court, DNAInfo reports.
Victoria Nicodemus, a 30-year-old artist and curator, was shopping in Fort Greene with her boyfriend on December 6th when one Marlon Sewell drove his 2004 Suburban SUV onto the sidewalk in front of Habana Outpost on the corner of Fulton Street and South Portland Avenue. Sewell apparently swerved to avoid hitting a bus. Nicodemus was killed, and her boyfriend and another pedestrian were injured.
Sewell was arrested on the scene, and Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson ultimately charged him with third degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and driving without a license, both misdemeanors.
Sewell had previously been arrested in March 2014 for unlicensed driving. He was also summonsed for speeding in a school zone three times, weeks before killing Nicodemus.
In court on Monday, Dougherty reportedly stated that Sewell's license had been suspended at the time of the crash because of his failure to pay child support, but had since been restored. Sewell's driving history was not mentioned.
The judge added that Sewell's car had been seized for the duration of an ongoing investigation into the crash, "negating" the necessity to suspend his license. Authorities are currently investigating Sewell's claim that he was lightheaded at the time of the crash because of a carbon monoxide leak inside the SUV.
According to prosecutors, video surveillance of the crash shows “very clearly” that Sewell was not justified in jumping the curb the night he killed Nicodemus.
Sewell's next court appearance is set for February 16th. He was released without bail in the immediate aftermath of the December crash.
A report issued last month by Transportation Alternatives found that drivers who failed to yield caused 5,966 crashes resulting in death or injury—excluding DWIs—in 2015. Fewer than 40 of them were prosecuted for it.
Mayor de Blasio signed the Right of Way Law in 2014, which makes failing to yield and striking pedestrians and cyclists a misdemeanor. According to the Mayor's Office on December 9th, 24 drivers had been charged with misdemeanor failure to yield for injuring or killing pedestrians in 2015.
Transportation Alternatives director Paul Steely White said of today's decision, "Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson and Judge Marguerite Dougherty are both failing to keep this demonstrably dangerous and deadly driver from killing more innocent people."
Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo told mourners at a recent vigil for Nicodemus, "We cannot tolerate little fines, a slap on the wrist. That is not appropriate, that is not relevant to the crime that happened at this corner. This crime destroyed a life."
Tagged
fort greene
ken thompson
pedestrian safety
Victoria Nicodemus
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Emma Whitford
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