Indictment In Fatal Overdose Of Garden City HS Teen: Nassau DA

MINEOLA, NY — A West Babylon man was indicted on charges in connection to selling oxycodone pills to a 17-year-old Garden City High School student that contained fentanyl and resulted in a fatal overdose, prosecutors said.

Daquan Booker, 34, of West Babylon, was arraigned on Tuesday on two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, Nassau County D.A. Anne Donnelly said.

Booker pleaded not guilty. He was released to pre-trial services with electronic monitoring, and was ordered to surrender his passport, prosecutors said.

"Daquan Booker first approached 17-year-old Grace Wrightington as she walked home from high school, allegedly telling her about pills he could sell to her. On at least two occasions, Booker allegedly sold Grace supposed oxycodone pills, and just four days after the last sale on June 30, 2023, Grace was dead," Donnelly said. "Twelve hours before Grace overdosed, she took a video of herself on her phone, clearly panicked and fearing she was inadvertently taking fentanyl. She was tragically right. The pills Grace had in her possession were tested after her death and were revealed to contain the deadly drug."

DA Donnelly said that, according to the charges, on at least two occasions Booker met with Wrightington and sold her illegal opioid pills.

On June 30, 2023, he met with her at Roosevelt Field Mall and allegedly sold her pills that resembled oxycodone, Donnelly said.

If convicted, Booker faces up to nine years in prison. He is due back in court on November 13.