Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Uniondale woman pleaded guilty to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide and related charges for a May 2021 crash that killed a man in a parked Toyota Corolla.
Tasha Brown, 29, pleaded guilty Friday, October 14, 2022, to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony), Assault in the Second Degree (a D violent felony) and Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor) before Judge Howard Sturim. The defendant is anticipated to be sentenced to seven years to 15 years in prison. Brown is expected back in court on December 7, 2022, for sentencing.
“Tasha Brown’s blood alcohol content was .20 when she decided to get behind the wheel of a car and drive at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour,” DA Donnelly said. “It is because of this defendant’s actions that Nelson Fuentes is dead today. He was an innocent man in a parked car and was killed as Brown’s vehicle careened down Front Street in Hempstead. Mr. Fuentes was only 29-years old, and we stand with his family as they continue to mourn his senseless loss.”
DA Donnelly said that, according to the indictment and investigation, on May 29, 2021, at approximately 4:35 a.m., the defendant, in a 2016 Toyota Corolla with three passengers, was driving west on Front Street at the intersection of Hendrickson Avenue in Hempstead, when she veered off the roadway and struck several parked cars traveling at a speed of more than 90 mph. One of those parked vehicles, a 2010 Toyota Corolla, was occupied by 29-year-old Nelson Fuentes.
Fuentes suffered fatal injuries as a result of the crash, while the defendant and her passengers were also injured.
Brown and her passengers were taken to Nassau University Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.
The victim was pronounced dead at NUMC at 5:26 a.m.
Brown was arrested on May 29, 2021, in Hempstead by detectives of the Hempstead Police Department and the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Alexander DePalo of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau. The defendant is represented by William J. Kephart, Esq.