Woman Celebrating 21st Birthday Killed After NYPD Traffic Agent Drunkenly Crashes Car: Cops
What was supposed to be a joyous celebration turned into a day of mourning when a woman ringing in her 21st birthday was killed in a devastating car crash in New York early Thursday, police said.
Amanda Miner, who turned 21 Wednesday, was in the back seat of a grey 2013 Infiniti sedan traveling from Manhattan into Brooklyn when it slammed into the median of the Williamsburg Bridge at 3:14 a.m., officials said.
The driver of the vehicle, 26-year-old NYPD traffic enforcement agent Stefan Hoyte, allegedly lost control of the car, striking the barrier and then a support pillar with such force that it ripped the vehicle in half, a police source told InsideEdition.com.
Miner, who lived in Williamsburg, was ejected from the demolished car and died at the scene, authorities said.
The young woman was a junior at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and had graduated from the Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem.
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She worked at the Camp Hope charity group in New Orleans during her spring break last year, writing on Facebook of those she volunteered with "beautiful individuals inside and out."
Miner went on to travel to Costa Rica, posting on social medial of her adventures while studying at San José’s Universidad Veritas.
"4 Months to Remember," she posted in December 2016.
Miner’s mother, Virginia Cabrera-Miner, posted a “Happy Birthday” card to her daughter on social media, sharing a photo of her on Facebook, where friends shared their condolences.
“We will always love you, princess,” one friend wrote.
“You were always happy and a joy to teach. You made me a better person and teacher. RIP Princess,” another person commented on the mother’s post.
Cabrera-Miner told reporters that she did not know the driver of the vehicle, Hoyte, who police said had been driving while under the influence of alcohol.
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Hoyte, whose Facebook page was filled with pictures of a grey 2013 Infiniti, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, DWI and was cited for speeding, cops said.
He allegedly took a Breathalyzer test that showed .10, above the .08 legal limit, a police source said.
Hoyte was brought to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, along with a 24-year-old man, identified by a source as Michael Camacho, another NYPD traffic agent who had been sitting in the front passenger seat, cops said.
Authorities said Hoyte joined the force as a traffic agent in December 2013 and was suspended following his arrest.
The Williamsburg Bridge’s inner lanes were closed early Thursday as the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad inspected the scene.
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