A 21-year-old Georgia woman visiting family on Long Island was indicted for a crash on Sunrise Highway that killed a 64-year old-woman who had been out shopping with a friend.
Rachel Lodice was arraigned Tuesday before Judge Tammy Robbins on second degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an incident and driving while under the influence of drugs, among other charges.
The victim, Cynthia Mitchell, left behind her husband and an 18-year-old daughter who is set to start college in the fall. Mitchell’s family and friends gathered inside the courtroom to watch the arraignment.
“This is a very traumatic thing for us, so we’re just trying our best to get through it,” said Mitchell’s husband, Theodore. “I don’t have much to say but we just want to see justice done for my wife.”
Prosecutors allege Lodice was a on a six-mile tear on Hicksville Road on April 23, speeding and recklessly driving on the busy Nassau County road.“The defendant was swerving in and out of traffic. She was screaming down Hicksville Road into oncoming traffic. She blew threw a red light,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
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When she ran the light at Hicksville Road and Sunrise Highway, she slammed into the side of Mitchell’s car, killing her, police said.
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Mitchell’s best friend Melinda Ward was also in the car, but survived. She said she has not been the same since the wreck. Her mother Jewel Ward told NBC New York, "She’s going through a lot trying to remember, but then remembering things she’s not sleeping she’s not doing anything."
When Lodice was arrested, she allegedly told officers she had been drinking. Chemical tests did not find alcohol, but instead found marijuana present in her system. How impaired she was, prosecutors do not know.
“There is not a level that we can measure of marijuana like we can measure alcohol, so we can just say that there was marijuana in her system,” said DA Donnelly. “The impairment, along with the details of the accident and the testimony of the responding officer will play into the case.”
Police said that after the crash, Lodice jumped into a Town of Oyster Bay public safety car and took off. Police found the 21-year-old a short time later — wearing a town official’s jacket and eating the official's sandwich.
Lodice pleaded not guilty Tuesday. She was ordered held on $500,000 bond, with her next court date scheduled for June 8.
