Driver faces a year in jail for causing death of 2 teens in 2019 Pearl River racing crash
NEW CITY − A 47-year-old Nanuet man faces a maximum jail sentence of one year for causing the death of two teenagers in a crash while racing another teenager driving a Porsche along Route 304 in Pearl River.
Jason Castro pleaded guilty to felony criminally negligent homicide in a plea agreement with the Rockland District Attorney's Office and approved by County Court Judge Kevin Russo. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 13.
A grand jury originally charged Castro with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and reckless driving. Russo tossed the indictment but a state appeals panel reinstated the charges.
Two teenagers died on Oct. 13, 2019, when Castro and Aisha Radoncic, then 17, crashed their cars as they raced down Route 304, weaving in and out of the roadway's lanes. Radoncic drove a 2017 Porsche Macan with two passengers, including her cousin. Castro drove a Volkswagen.
Pearl River: Drivers in Route 304 double fatal crash charged with homicide, accused of racing
After eight months of investigation and reconstructing the accident with the state police, Orangetown police charged Castro and Radoncic in 2020 with two felony counts of criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, speed contests and races. They also were given several vehicle and traffic law infractions.
Castro was indicted by a grand jury. But Russo dismissed the indictment, ruling the evidence insufficient to support the charges of manslaughter and reckless driving.
On appeal by the Rockland District Attorney's Office, the Supreme Court's Appellate Division overruled Russo in February 2022 and reinstated the indictment's manslaughter and reckless driving counts.
Ruling: Appellate panel overrules judge's tossing indictment in fatal crash
The panel ruled that "viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the People (prosecution), we find that it was legally sufficient to support the charge" of manslaughter and reckless driving.
The jurists ruled "the evidence before the grand jury, if accepted as true, established that in addition to traveling at the excessive rate of speed of approximately 80 to 90 mph, the defendant's vehicle and the Porsche were weaving in and out of traffic, without braking or signaling.
"As the Porsche and the defendant's vehicle approached a sharp bend in the roadway, they were traveling side-by-side, with the Porsche in the left lane," the court ruling said. "The defendant's (Castro) vehicle struck the Porsche while attempting to enter the left lane, which caused the Porsche to hit the left-hand curb of the roadway and fly 'at least a couple of hundred feet' in the air before coming to rest' at the bottom of the highway.”
The two Porsche passengers died − Pearl River High School senior and football player Altin Nezaj, 17, and 15-year-old Saniha Cekic of Brooklyn. Radoncic, who was treated at the Westchester Medical Center and released, and Cekic were cousins.
Radoncic's case was handled in Rockland Family Court based on her age at the time. District Attorney Thomas Walsh's chief spokesperson, Peter Walker, chief of detectives, said the office could not comment.
The appellate ruling states that Castro told a police sergeant at the scene that he did not see the Porsche when he attempted to maneuver his vehicle into the left lane and believed the Porsche was in his blind spot. He also acknowledged to the officer that "he was “kind of racing” with the Porsche, the decision said.
At the time of the arrests, Walsh said, “Today our community relives the horrible tragedy that claimed the lives of two teenagers, taken from us with their whole lives in front of them. The allegations are that the two arrested individuals were engaged in a road race.
"We need to remind our young drivers that cars aren’t toys," Walsh said. "What appears to be an exciting race turns into a tragedy that has forever impacted numerous families and Pearl River as a community.”
The District Attorney's Office had no comment on the plea or promised sentence.
Both Walsh and Russo have come under heat for the no-prison or jail plea agreement in June involving two rabbis who admitted to causing the fatal fire at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults in Spring Valley in March 2021. Firefighters and supporters have started a petition campaign to urge Walsh to resign. He's running unopposed on the Democratic and Republican ballot lines for a second, four-year term in November.
A Spring Valley firefighter and an adult home resident died in the inferno, while another firefighter suffered serious life-threatening injuries. Russo has the final say on the sentence for Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer and his son Aaron on Sept. 20. The judge indicate at their pleas he would hand down probationary sentences for manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Castro faces year in jail for causing death of 2 teens while racing
