Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Garden City woman was sentenced to a net sentence of three to six years in prison for running down her neighbor, a pedestrian, while driving drunk in February 2018.
Tara Guinnane, 49, pled guilty before Judge Meryl Berkowitz on January 25 to the top counts of Aggravated Vehicular Assault (a C felony), Assault in the Second Degree (a D violent felony) and Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor).
“Brian Gormley, a married father of three, had just gotten off the train from work and was walking home on his own street when his intoxicated neighbor changed his life forever,” DA Singas said. “This DWI defendant did not think about Mr. Gormley or any other innocent person who crossed her path. Brian Gormley will pay the price for this defendant’s criminal decision for the rest of his life. There is simply no excuse for anyone to drive drunk.”
DA Singas said that on February 12, 2018, at approximately 6:15 pm, the defendant was driving while intoxicated on Wilson Street in Garden City when she struck a 50-year-old male pedestrian.
The defendant lived across the street from the victim on Wilson Street, and the victim was walking home from the train station at the time of the incident.
Neighbors heard the collision and saw the defendant and a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee near the injured victim. When Garden City Police Officers responded to the scene, they observed that the defendant was intoxicated and found empty liquor bottles in the defendant’s car. The defendant initially denied striking the victim.
Two hours after the incident, the defendant had a BAC of .18 – more than twice the legal limit. The victim, Brian Gormley suffered life-altering injuries as a result of the incident which have already required months of cognitive and physical therapy.
Senior District Attorney Christopher Casa and Assistant District Attorney Charles Dunn of DA Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting this case. James Pascarella, Esq. represents the defendant.