Albany,NY : A Montclair man charged with aggravated manslaughter after a 91-mph crash on may, wednesday 10th 2017
A Montclair man charged with aggravated manslaughter after a 91-mph crash in the Lincoln Tunnel in 2014 testified yesterday that he began feeling ill on the tunnel approach and has no memory of the fatal crash.
As the defense presented its case this morning, Louis S. Pine, 42, testified that as he drove to work on Sept. 2, 2014, "I got hit with this incredibly quick rush of nausea and a cramping feeling. I really thought I was going to throw up in the car."
He told the court he tried to stop, but he doesn't remember anything before regaining consciousness in his crumpled BMW with injuries that included collapsed lungs and a fractured sacrum. The driver-side door was pinned against the tunnel wall, so he climbed into the passenger seat, but stopped there due to difficulty breathing and pain, he testified.
His attorney, Joseph Hayden, claims Pine suffered a medical episode that caused his vehicle to accelerate to roughly 55 mph over the tunnel's 35 mph speed limit when it slammed into a minivan and propelled it into another vehicle at about 8:30 a.m. that day.
Steven M. Benevento, 49, of Summit, was in the minivan and went into cardiac arrest following the crash. He was taken to a New York City hospital where he died a few hours later.
Bolstering Pine's testimony was a NJ Transit bus driver who testified earlier that when he ran to the BMW, Pine "was out of it. He didn't know what happened.
First thing he asked me, was everybody OK? He had no idea what happened."
Pine testified that a week before the crash he saw his doctor because he was recovering from flu-like symptoms and was being cautious because he contracted pneumonia the two previous years. He then spent Labor Day weekend with his family in Cape May and said he felt fine.
The defendant said he felt fine on the drive to work on the morning of the crash, prior to the tunnel approach, and that he had no reason to speed to get to work.
Pine, who spent five days in Manhattan hospitals after the crash, also testified about numerous visits to his doctor and to specialists in the months after the crash.
Under cross-examination, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Lynne Seborowski noted that Pine was not diagnosed as suffering from possible syncope (fainting) or vertigo until doctor visits after he was indicted and arrested in 2015. He is also charged with vehicular homicide.
During testimony in the state's case, an expert in biomechanics testified that if Pine had passed out and his body had gone limp, the dead weight of his lower leg and foot alone would not have been sufficient to push the accelerator pedal to the floor and hold it there until impact, as the car's computer recorded.
Testimony in the defense case ended just before noon yesterday and the defense intends to call at least two more witnesses when the trial resumes at 11 a.m. on Friday.
Source :
A Montclair man charged with aggravated manslaughter after a 91-mph crash