Accused drug dealer can't be charged in Long Island teen's overdose death, DA says
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — One year after a Long Island teenager died of an accidental overdose, police have arrested the man who allegedly sold her pills laced with fentanyl, but the district attorney says they can't directly charge him with her death.
Grace Wrightington, 17, was walking home from Garden City High School when she arranged to buy a few blue pressed pills, which she thought were Percocet or OxyContin, according to investigators. Investigators say the pills were laced with fentanyl, however.
Twelve hours before she died, Grace recorded a video in her bedroom saying she has taken pills and felt like she was overdosing, but was scared to tell her parents.
"We thought our daughter was sleeping in. My husband went to wake her up, and he started screaming, 'Grace is dead, Grace is dead,'" said Grace's mother, Tricia Wrightington.
Her parents say Grace was beloved by her friends, a straight-A student who mentored classmates with special needs and a chess club star. They say was thrilled about college and to make her mark on society.
"Our daughter was a beautiful, beautiful, kind, beautiful girl with a beautiful heart, and she didn't deserve this. Seventeen years old, stolen from us, stolen from the world," Tricia Wrightington said.
Suspect arrested 1 year after Garden City teen fatally overdoses
Now, one year later, suspect Daquan Booker has been arrested and charged with criminal sale and possession of a controlled substance – offenses for which he cannot be held on bail. He will be released in Nassau County on a monitoring bracelet. He's also expected to face a judge in Suffolk County on Wednesday for allegedly dealing fentanyl there.
"Because of the deficiencies in the existing laws in New York state, we cannot charge him with killing Grace," said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Booker faces as little as probation or up to nine years in prison.
There is a pending bill in Albany called Chelsea's Law that would make manslaughter easier to prove for dealers peddling deadly drugs.
Grace's parents, William and Tricia Wrightington, call it the harsh reality of the current legal system.
"You can lie to a child, sell them a pill and lie to them about what's in it, and if they take it and die, the next step, if it's your first offense, is drug diversion?" Tricia Wrightington said.
"It's happening everywhere, and the laws need to catch up ... There needs to be accountability," said Williams Wrightington.