The 34-year-old Brooklyn woman who plowed her Ford Mustang into a Forever 21 in Herald Square and hit several pedestrians allegedly had a blood alcohol content that was more than twice the legal limit, according to a criminal complaint.
Stella Mednik was arraigned Monday night on a bevy of charges including driving while intoxicated, drug possession and assault after she allegedly slammed her car into the midtown store and pinned at least one pedestrian against the building in an apparent attempt to flee a crash on West 34th Street last week.
Bail for Mednik was set at $30,000. NBC 4 New York has reached out to the Legal Aid Society, which represented Mednik for her arraignment.
Police say Mednik, who law enforcement sources tell NBC 4 New York is an ex-lawyer with a suspended license, was driving her Mustang on West 34th Street when it rear-ended an SUV. She allegedly put the car in reverse in an apparent attempt to flee and hit a second car. After the second impact, police say the Mustang jumped the curb and plowed into the store and pedestrians.
A criminal complaint alleges that Mednik had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 at the time, more than twice the 0.08 threshold for drunk driving charges in New York.
Police also allegedly found a crack pipe in the floorboard of the Mustang and another in the trunk after the car hit the store, which injured Mednik, a passenger in her car, a Forever 21 employee and four other pedestrians.
Six people were seriously hurt and one had minor injuries; it wasn't clear how badly Mednik was hurt. All seven people were initially taken to Bellevue Hospital Center.
