After 4-Year-Old Girl Mowed Down, DA Announces Aggravated Vehicular Homicide Indictment

SPRING VALLEY, NY — A Rockland County grand jury has handed down felony charges against a Spring Valley man in a tragic crash that took the life of a small child on the sidewalk.

District Attorney Tom Walsh announced that the indictment against Axel I. Lopez-Santiago charges him with three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of felony driving while intoxicated and one count of reckless driving.

SEE: 4 Pedestrians Struck, 4-Year-Old Girl Killed, Driver Arrested: Police

The 41-year-old is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

Lopez-Santiago is accused of driving his vehicle recklessly on June 14, and speeding as he traveled east on Old Nyack Turnpike, in Spring Valley. His vehicle suddenly veered across the double yellow line and into the opposite lane of travel continuing off the road and onto the pedestrian sidewalk as he approached the entrance to Kennedy Park, according to police. The vehicle struck four pedestrians before crashing into a tree.

The victims were rushed to area hospitals. A 4-year-old girl died from her injuries. Two of the other victims, a 31-year-old man and a five-year-old boy, were seriously injured. Investigators say Lopez-Santiago had been drinking and was intoxicated at the time of the crash.