Drunken Driver Gets 21 Years For Fatal Crash Near Verrazano: DA

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A drunken driver who sped the wrong way down the Belt Parkway and slammed into a Lyft car with enough force to kill its passenger faces up to 21 years in prison, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced Wednesday.

Aleh Sheipak, 51, was sentenced to between seven and 21 years in prison after pleading guilty in June to aggravated vehicular homicide for his part in the July 2018 crash, prosecutors said.

Sheipak, of Sheepshead Bay, was driving his 2011 Volkswagen Tiguan the wrong way on the Belt Parkway near the Verrazzano Bridge about 1:50 a.m. on July 12, 2018, when he slammed into the 2018 Honda Accord Lyft, prosecutors said.

The crash killed passenger Gerald Obah, 29, threw his companion, a 29-year-old woman, into the front seat, and broke the 20-year-old driver's leg, said prosecutors.

Emergency responders gave Sheipak a sobriety test which he failed with .18 blood alcohol content, more than twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Obah died at NYU Langone Hospital, and both drivers were treated at Maimonides Hospital, said prosecutors.

“This defendant recklessly and illegally got behind the wheel of a car after drinking heavily, taking the life of a young man and seriously injuring two other people," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

"He has now been held accountable for his criminal conduct."