Diane O’Neill, the former Southold High School teacher facing a DWI charge following a Jan. 13 accident on Main Road in Jamesport in which allegedly struck a 92-year-old man standing in the roadway, has had a license suspension canceled by Riverhead Justice Court.
O’Neill’s attorney, Eileen Powers of Riverhead, made the application to lift the suspension order this afternoon before Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith.
The lab analysis of O’Neill’s blood drawn after the accident indicated a blood alcohol content of .08 percent, according to court records discussed today in the courtroom. But the charge filed against O’Neill was under a section of the DWI statute that does not specify an allegation of the defendant’s blood alcohol content. Without such an allegation, the statute authorizing the court to suspend a driver’s license pending a DWI prosecution does not apply, Powers told the court.
“There is no allegation that she was operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .08 or more,” Powers told the court. “They left it blank,” she said, referring to police.
The court has broad discretion to suspend a driver’s license under a different provision of the vehicle and traffic law, which was what it did during O’Neill’s initial court appearance Jan. 14. Powers objected to her client’s license being suspended indefinitely while prosecutors investigate the matter and prepare for a trial, which could take many months.
The prosecutor did not object to Powers’ application.
O’Neill, 65, of Farmingville was driving westbound on Main Road near Herricks Lane on Jan. 13 at about 7:15 p.m. when, according to police, her vehicle struck and killed George Kurovics of Jamesport, who was on foot in the roadway. Kurovics was retrieving the body of his dead cat, who had earlier been killed by another vehicle.
Shortly after the accident, O’Neill retired from her longtime teaching job in Southold, where she was “a well-loved and highly respected teacher,” according to Southold Superintendent David Gamberg.
O’Neill, who faces a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge remains free on $10,000 bail. She was not present in the courtroom for today’s proceeding.
The case is next on the justice court’s calendar for May 4.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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