Malina Singh was driving drunk.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American woman was sentenced Monday for driving drunk and killing a pedestrian in New York last year, a crime for which she will serve two to six years in prison.
Malina M. Singh, 21, pleaded guilty in June to one count of second-degree vehicular manslaughter for causing the death of 34-year-old Jonathon L. Rogers on Sept. 5.
Singh’s attorney said previously that she had agreed to plead guilty to spare the family a trial. She could have faced the more severe charge of first-degree vehicular manslaughter, according to the Glens Falls Post-Star.
Authorities believe Rogers had been walking home from a bar in Corinth, N.Y. when Singh drove out of her lane and collided with him.
According to local news outlets, when police tested Singh after the crash they found she had a 0.18 blood alcohol content, which is more than double the 0.08 percent threshold for driving while intoxicated.
During the sentencing, Rogers’ mother, Susan Miller, delivered an emotional statement, explaining the pain of having her son — the father of two children — erased from their lives.
Miller called her son the “light of her life,” an illumination that was blotted out by Singh’s decision to drive drunk, reported Times Union.
In addition to incarceration, visiting Saratoga County Court Judge Matthew Sypniewski ordered Singh to install an ignition interlock device in every vehicle she owns or drives for three years upon her release, according to a news release from Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen.
“This case typifies the tragic consequences that can result from drunk driving — the loss not only of an innocent life, but the equally devastating collateral consequences to the family and friends left behind,” she said in the release.