DA: Driver Charged In Deadly L.I. Crash Had BAC Nearly 4 Times Legal Limit
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The Babylon man accused of driving while intoxicated and killing a Long Island honors student in a two-car crash over the weekend was arraigned on Wednesday.
Michael Grasing's blood alcohol level was .30 -- nearly four times the legal limit -- about 90 minutes after he slammed into a car driven by 18-year-old Brittney Walsh on Montauk Highway around 10:25 p.m. Sunday, investigators said.
The impact caused the Lindenhurst teen's car to flip multiple times before striking a utility police, police said.
1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reports
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Walsh, who had just graduated from Copiague High School on Friday, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Eyewitnesses estimate Grasing was driving 85 to 100 mph before the crash, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
"I don't know how anyone could be that drunk and drive that fast, it's mind boggling," the victim's aunt, Carol Grubel, told CBS 2's Carolyn Gusoff. "I don't know where he was. How did they let him leave that drunk and get into a car?"
Grasing was also seen swerving through traffic, running two red lights and driving on the sidewalk just minutes before the crash, Spota said.
"One eyewitness overhead other motorists yelling to the defendant at a red light that he should stop driving or he's going to kill someone," Spota said.
Grasing is facing DWI charges, but they could be upgraded, Spota said.
Walsh's immediate family was not in court as members were attending their daughter's wake.
The district attorney and police are asking anyone who witnessed any of the events that evening – before, during or after the crash – to call the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-854-8152.
The investigation is ongoing.
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