Scarsdale body-cam footage shows motorist moments before Greenburgh fatal crash

A motorist accused of being high on drugs when he killed a Greenburgh pedestrian Aug. 26 interacted with a Scarsdale police officer for more than half an hour after a minor accident and was let go just minutes before the fatal crash, body-worn camera footage reveals.

The rookie officer, Ainsley Brown, released Antonio Robles-Sanchez immediately after learning there was a prescription pill on the driver's seat and not asking him further about it. And despite the length of time he spent on his patrol car computer entering Robles-Sanchez's license information, he failed to learn that Pennsylvania authorities had an active warrant for Robles-Sanchez' arrest on misdemeanor drug charges.

The footage, obtained by The Journal News/lohud through a Freedom of Information request, leaves several questions unanswered, including what specifically Brown did to determine the status of Robles-Sanchez’s driver’s license; whether he checked for warrants; and what guidance he was given by two supervisors inside headquarters while Robles-Sanchez was still in the parking lot.

Less than six minutes after Robles-Sanchez pulled out of the parking lot, his pickup truck smashed into 65-year-old Stephanie Kavourias as she walked on the sidewalk along East Harstdale Avenue. A well-known Hartsdale activist who was a former director of the parking authority there, she was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.

Lawyers for Kavourias' family have filed notices of claim against Greenburgh and Scarsdale, announcing their intention to sue each for $20 million.

Scarsdale police Chief Andrew Matturo was on vacation and did not respond to emailed questions about the footage. He did forward them to acting Village Manager Alexandra Marshall, who did not address them in a statement she issued Monday.

"We were saddened to learn of the accident that occurred in Greenburgh, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the Kavourias family," the statement read. "While it does not make what happened any less devastating, we believe that, after all of the facts come out, the driver, and not the Village, will be found responsible for this tragedy."

Andrew Chan, a lawyer for Kavourias' sister, acknowledged the obvious culpability of the driver but said that was "not mutually exclusive to the Scarsdale Police Department's responsibility for this happening as well."

"They had every opportunity and every reason to stop this from happening and they failed to do so," Chan said. "This guy should not have been on the road."

What happened with the first crash

Shortly after 10 a.m. that Saturday morning, Robles-Sanchez was heading to a construction job at a McDonalds on Central Avenue in Greenburgh. He may have been lost as he headed north on Post Road in Scarsdale because instead of turning on Fenimore Road to head west into Greenburgh, he turned right to go east on Mamaroneck Road.

But he made too wide a turn and struck a car driven by John Flanagan, who was stopped on Mamaroneck at the traffic light. Flanagan then drove into the parking lot of Scarsdale Police Headquarters across the street to await an officer's arrival.

There were no traffic violations observed and Brown responded to facilitate the exchange of insurance information.

His body camera went on at 10:31 a.m. when he pulled up behind the pickup truck on Mamaroneck Road. Robles-Sanchez showed him his Washington, D.C. driver's license and Brown directed him to turn around and follow him into the police parking lot.

Brown got the drivers’ paperwork and logged onto his patrol car’s computer at 10:37 a.m. He spent nearly the entire next 20 minutes entering the information, except for a few moments when he went to get the drivers’ insurance cards and Robles-Sanchez explained that he could not find his. Robles-Sanchez was trying to use his phone to find the insurance information online.

At some point, Robles-Sanchez began sitting in the driver’s seat of Flanagan’s car because he needed to use his phone charger. When Brown had returned to his computer, Flanagan came over to his car to complain that Robles-Sanchez was coughing and appeared sick, suggesting he didn’t want Robles-Sanchez in his car anymore.

Robles-Sanchez could be seen resting his head on the door jamb of Flanagan's car and tells Brown at one point he was tired and in a rush. But he answered all the officer's questions and the footage showed no obvious sign that he was impaired. According to a statement Flanagan gave police 10 days later he “did not get the sense that Mr. Robles was impaired when talking to him.”

Brown told Robles-Sanchez to go to his car and then went into headquarters for guidance saying Robles-Sanchez didn’t have his insurance policy number. Just before Brown shuts off his body cam at 10:58, Sgt. Ronnie Arefieg seems to suggest he didn't need that.

It was unclear how long Brown remained inside with Arefieg and Lt. Craig Carroll or how long he then spent outside with Flanagan as he let him know he could leave. His body cam went back on at 11:05 as he is standing at the driver’s door of the pickup. Robles-Sanchez was sitting in the passenger seat and Brown notices a single pill on the driver’s seat.

Robles-Sanchez said he did not know what the pill was. Brown asked him to read what was marked on the pill and when he did the officer was typing on his cell phone. A Google search of just the code immediately turns up that it is half a milligram of alprazolam, or Xanax, a sedative used to treat panic and anxiety disorders. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it is a low-level controlled substance. The drug requires a prescription and Brown never asked Robles-Sanchez if he had one.

The officer instead tells him he’s free to go at 11:08.

When he turns off the body camera seconds later, Robles-Sanchez is backing out of the parking spot to leave.

A fatal crash followed

Less than six minutes later three quarters of a mile away, the truck goes through the intersection of East Hartsdale Avenue and Rockledge Road, veers off the road onto the sidewalk and plows into Kavourias as she walked east toward the intersection. In video from a nearby building, Robles-Sanchez did not appear to pause after striking her and drove off.

He was found 20 minutes later by White Plains police in his truck near the Westchester County Center. Police said additional loose pills were found in the car. According to police, Robles-Sanchez told them he had taken a speedball, a mixture of cocaine and heroine, that morning.

Robles-Sanchez is facing charges including second-degree vehicular manslaughter and is being held on $500,000 bail at the Westchester County jail.

The Scarsdale PBA president did not respond to messages and Brown declined to comment, referring questions to village officials. He graduated from the Westchester Police Academy in May, spent 10-weeks in field training and started patrolling alone less than a month before the accident.

The notice of claim against Greenburgh accuses the town of failing to properly maintain the intersection. The claim against Scarsdale, the police department and Brown accuses them of ignoring the risk Robles-Sanchez posed that morning, failing to discover the outstanding Pennsylvania warrant and for negligence in its protocols for handling motor vehicle accidents.

Chan said the trauma of Kavourias' final moments as she saw the pickup truck bearing down on her should lead to significant damages for pain and suffering.

But he said her case was a prime example for why Gov. Kathy Hochul should sign a revised version of the Grieving Families Act, legislation that ends the practice of valuing victims' lives in wrongful death cases solely on their income at the time. That protocol devalues the lives of young children, the disabled and the elderly and retired like Kavourias and ignores the suffering of their loved ones, Chan said.

Hochul vetoed the legislation last year over concerns about the unknown economic impact and who would be deemed a close family member.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Greenburgh NY accident: Cop body-cam shows motorist before fatal crash