A Deer Park man has been indicted on upgraded charges after allegedly driving drunk and causing a crash that killed his 25-year-old passenger on the Long Island Expressway in Melville three months ago, Suffolk County prosecutors said.
Daniel Moreira will be arraigned Friday before Judge Fernando Camacho on charges of vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter, reckless driving and speeding. He was initially arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated. He is free on $5,000 bail.
“Though police at the scene described the defendant as smelling of alcohol, having bloodshot, glassy eyes and slurred speech, Moreira claimed to have had one beer, that he was traveling alone and that the crash occurred at Exit 60,” District Attorney Tom Spota said.
Prosecutors said Moreira’s blood-alcohol content was 0.20, more than double the legal limit, after the crash. Police have said that the 27-year-old suspect was driving a Toyota Corolla westbound on the LIE when his vehicle rear-ended a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck near Exit 49 at 3:45 a.m. on Nov. 9. The vehicle came to a rest after hitting a barrier.
His passenger, Ismelda Rodriguez, of Brentwood, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Moreira was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the Tacoma, 60-year-old Terry Doughan of Kings Park, was not injured.
