NYPD Agent Was Speeding Before Crash That Killed Williamsburg Woman: Prosecutors

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN – The man accused of killing 21-year-old Williamsburg woman Amanda Miner was driving more than 50 miles per hour before he crashed his car into a median and then a support pillar on the Williamsburg Bridge, ejecting Miner from the car, prosecutors said.

Stefan Hoyte, an NYPD traffic enforcement agent, was speeding across the bridge after 3 a.m. on Thursday morning before he crashed into the pillar, severing the car and Miner in half, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney's office. The speed limit on the Williamsburg Bridge is 35 miles per hour.

Hoyte was arraigned on Thursday night on multiple charges, including vehicular manslaughter and operating a car while intoxicated. He remains in jail with bail set at $100,000, according to Department of Corrections records. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.

Hoyte told an NYPD officer who responded to the crash that he had had two drinks at a bar in Williamsburg, according to the criminal complaint. The officer said he "smelled alcohol on [Hoyte]'s breath" and that Hoyte "had watery eyes, and was unsteady on his feet," according to the complaint. Hoyte, Miner and another man were out celebrating Miner's 21st birthday. Both Hoyte and the other passenger were treated for minor injuries after the crash.

Hoyte's attorney, Scott Cerbin, described the crash as a "terrible accident," and said that Tuesday's snowstorm had made driving conditions on the bridge especially poor.

"The evidence that it was an accident is a lot stronger than the evidence that this was due to intoxication," Cerbin told Patch on Friday.

Hoyte has been suspended from the NYPD, where he's worked since 2013, a police spokesman told Patch in an email. He worked out of Queens.

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