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Drunk, High Driver Convicted Of Murder For Crash That Killed East Village Bodega Worker
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jul 20, 2016
Modified Jul 20, 2016
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Scott Lynch
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Jul 20, 2016
Modified Jul 20, 2016
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The driver who killed an East Village bodega worker in 2013 was convicted of murder by a judge today. Shaun Martin, 35, killed Mohammed Akkas Ali, 62, and injured two other workers at East Village Farm and Grocery Store when he careened into the East Village Farm at East Fourth Street and Second Avenue while drunk and high on meth and PCP.
Judge Melissa Jackson convicted Martin of murder as well as aggravated vehicular homicide, assault, reckless endangerment, driving while high, driving drunk, and drug possession. Martin reportedly sobbed when Jackson began announcing the verdicts.
"Shaun Martin turned a vehicle into a murder weapon the morning he took the wheel while impaired by drugs,” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement. "In doing so, he chose to endanger the lives of every New Yorker he encountered that day."
The crash occurred at 6:50 a.m., after a witness said Martin "had been drinking and doing drugs all night." Martin was driving at over 50 miles per hour when he cut across three lanes of traffic and drove onto the sidewalk, smashing through a fire hydrant, pay phone, parking meter, tree, and the flower stand outside of East Village Farm. Along the way, Martin also hit Ali, a Bangladeshi florist who worked the overnight shift seven days a week, and two coworkers, and debris from the crash struck a cyclist. Ali succumbed to his injuries six months later at a nursing home.
At trial, the Daily News reports, Martin's attorney argued that Ali died because his breathing tube was dislodged, not from his crash injuries.
Martin "acted with complete disregard for human life," assistant district attorney Constantine Coritsidis argued during the trial. "He never once pressed his brakes."
This case is unusual in several ways. In New York City, motorists charged with murder — itself a rare occurrence — are generally accused of killing their victims intentionally, or causing a fatal crash while fleeing police. Neither condition applied here. Vance also filed serious charges for the injuries Martin inflicted upon the surviving victims, which is relatively uncommon in NYC — and Martin was convicted on all counts.
Martin faces 15-25 years on the second-degree murder charge, as many 25 years on each of two counts of vehicular homicide, 25 years on each of two counts of assault, 7 years for reckless endangerment, and 4 years for each of three driving under the influence charges. He is set to be sentenced in September.
Tagged
bodega
bodega flowers
cis
drunk driving
east village
east village farm and grocery
meth
Mohammed Akkas Ali
nypd
pcp
shaun martin
vision zero
Nathan Tempey
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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