Former NYPD Sergeant Pleads Guilty In Fatal DWI Crash: AG

NEW YORK — A former NYPD sergeant pleaded guilty to homicide charges this week stemming from a fatal wrong-way DWI crash on the Taconic State Parkway in January, prosecutors said.

According to Attorney General Letitia James, 48-year-old Warwick resident Tiffany Howell pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and second-degree manslaughter charges Monday for her involvement in a Jan. 22 crash that killed 61-year-old Manuel Boitel.

Prosecutors said Howell was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of the parkway at about 11:37 p.m. the night of the crash when she hit Boitel’s car head-on. Prosecutors said Howell was driving more than 50 miles per hour at the time of the crash with a BAC of at least 0.18. Boitel was hospitalized and pronounced dead just after midnight that night, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Judge Anne Bianchi kept Howell’s bail at $250,000 bond, $500,000 partially secured bond and a $100,000 cash alternative. Howell is due back in court Oct. 28 for sentencing, prosecutors said. The AG’s office said Howell will be sentenced to between four and 12 years in prison, and that Howell had waived her right to appeal.