Driver Sentenced For Killing 3 In High-Speed LI Crash: DA

MINEOLA, NY — A Queens man was sentenced on Thursday to up to 13 1/2 years in prison for a high-speed, marijuana-fueled crash on the Southern State Parkway in 2022 that killed three people, prosecutors said.

Matthew Whyte, 29, pleaded guilty on February 20, to aggravated vehicular homicide, three counts of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault and driving while ability impaired by drugs, Nassau County D.A. Anne Donnelly said.

“Three young lives were stolen because of Matthew Whyte’s reckless decision to drive high on the notoriously treacherous Southern State Parkway,” Donnelly said. "Driving is a privilege and a responsibility. When you drive high, you are putting your life and the lives of other motorists at risk.

On the evening of November 5, 2022, 18-year-old Ciara Hare was driving her 2004 Honda Civic eastbound on the Southern State Parkway near Exit 32 (Route 110, Broadway) with passengers 18-year-old Florence Oprisan and 22-year-old Jean Marc Miller, Donnelly said.

At approximately the same time, Whyte was driving his 2018 Subaru WRX in the same direction near the exit, at a high rate of speed, weaving in and out of lanes of traffic and while impaired by marijuana, prosecutors said.

An unidentified individual in a third vehicle was also speeding, and driving recklessly, and appeared to be racing Whyte, Donnelly said.

Whyte crashed into Hare’s vehicle, forcing the vehicle off the roadway and into a traffic camera pole on the right shoulder of the parkway. Whyte’s vehicle also left the roadway, overturned, and landed in the wooded shoulder of the parkway a short distance away, Donnelly said.

According to the event data recorder from Whyte’s vehicle, he was driving approximately 93 miles per hour five seconds before he struck the victims’ vehicle. Blood taken from the defendant at the hospital revealed Whyte had marijuana in his system four hours after the crash, Donnelly said.

"Today’s sentence will never undo the pain this defendant has caused Ciara, Florence, and Jean Marc’s families. But it should serve as a warning and a reminder for anyone driving on our roadways," Donnelly said.