Spota, Flanagan Call for Stiffer Hit-And-Run Prison Sentences

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and Sen. John Flanagan, R-East Northport, are calling for stiffer penalties for those convicted of hit-and-run driving.

At a press conference in Hauppauge Tuesday, Spota and Flanagan said they are pushing for an increase in the maximum prison sentence from seven to 15 years.

Joining Spota and Flanagan were relatives of four men and women killed by hit-and-run drivers.

“The family members of the victims here today are representing 58 families of hit and run victims,” Spota said.“That is how many indictments we’ve had since 2012 in Suffolk of people who left the scene of a crash resulting in a fatality or a serious physical injury.”

Flanagan has long called for increasing prison time for convicted hit-and-run drivers, and the sponsor of previous bills in Albany to increase prison time.

“As a legislator, I approach this issue as a parent,” he said. “I have three kids. I look at this as ‘What if? What if this happened to my family?’”

Officials were joined by Lindsay Benjamin, the daughter of Karen Benjamin who died three weeks after being run down, while jogging, by Thomas Costa of Coram, the DA’s office said. Costa is now serving two and one-third to seven years in prison. In trying to change the law, Lindsay Benjamin said her family estatblished a Change.org petition that contains 3,700 signatures.

Also in attendance was the niece of Scott Wayte, who was killed on Dec. 28, 2012, while crossing the street in front of the Riverhead restaurant where he and his family were about to celebrate his 50th birthday. Wayte’s family has fought twice at parole hearings to keep Joseph Plummer, convicted of the hit-and-run crash, behind bars. Plummer is serving 2 to 6 years in prison, officials said.

Dennis Hughes, the father of Erika Hughes, a single mom who was struck and killed walking along a Mastic street in July 2011 by Preston Mims, said that four years after his daughter’s death, “I can’t believe I’m up here still fighting for this – this is common sense.” Preston Mims was sentenced to one-and-one-third to four years for leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

“He left my daughter on the side of the road and never got out of the car,” Hughes said. “ If there was a chance to save her, he never made a phone call.”

The parents of Brittany Walsh, the Lindenhurst teenager killed in 2012 on Montauk Highway by Michael Grasing, spoke of changing current law to make the crime of aggravated vehicular homicide a violent felony, with a longer prison term.

“We’ve got to have a law in this state that appropriately punishes hit-and-run drivers and the people who can do that are in our state legislature,” Spota said.

“The Senate stands ready to act, and I know these family members of the victims will be very compelling and will garner the attention to be the catalyst to get it done,” Flanagan said.

SCDA Photo: The car of Babylon’s Michael Grasing, who attempted to flee the scene of a crash that killed a Lindenhurst teen in 2012. Grasing, who was drunk at the time, is now serving a 10 2/3 to 30 year prison term.

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