Judge chastises defense lawyer for calling DWI crash that injured mother and baby in Yonkers an "accident"
YONKERS, N.Y. -- There was a courtroom clash at the sentencing of drunk driver who struck a woman and her baby.
You may remember the dramatic video of the victims being pushed through a plate glass window, and body cam video from Yonkers cops who helped rescue them.
CBS2's Tony Aiello was in court Tuesday when the judge took issue with the defense calling the incident "an accident."
"I wish that the family could forgive me and what I have done," convicted drunk driver David Poncurak said.
The apology was simple and seemed heartfelt. Then things got heated at the sentencing of Poncurak.
"This was an accident," defense attorney Robert Feldman said.
Feldman used that wording to describe Poncurak, with drugs and alcohol in his system early on a Friday morning, driving out of control and smashing into Myrna Palacios and her baby, Leslie. They were both seriously injured and Poncurak then plowed into a barber shop.
"The driving while drunk and on drugs was not accidental. That was a choice. To think of your client as anything other than a criminal would be misplaced. He's a criminal," Judge Barry Warhit said.
Things in the courtroom got even more tense, after Feldman referenced police body cam video showing Yonkers cops and good Samaritans desperately lifting Poncurak's car to rescue the mother and child.
"My client got out of the car and helped the officers lift it. He showed what he was made of on that film," Feldman said.
"He showed what he's made of when he drove drunk and on drugs and plowed into a woman and a child. That's what he's made of. He's not the hero here. Don't make him the hero here. He's the perpetrator," Judge Warhit responded.
Warhit credited Poncurak for accepting responsibility and pleading guilty to the top charge, aggravated vehicular assault, before sentencing him to a maximum of seven and a half years in prison.
Eight months late, the scene of the crime on Lake Avenue remains boarded up. The prosecutor says Palacios and baby Leslie continue their recovery. Poncurak must serve at least two and a half years before he's eligible for parole.
Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah had requested a stiffer sentence, with a minimum of four years in prison before parole eligibility.
