D.A. BROWN: LONG ISLAND RESIDENT ARRAIGNED ON CHARGES OF DWI, VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER AND LEAVING SCENE OF FATAL COLLISION THAT KILLED PASSENGER

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Long Island man has been arraigned on charges of driving while under the influence of alcohol, vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting in a fatal collision at a Springfield Gardens intersection early yesterday morning. A passenger in the vehicle allegedly driven by the defendant was killed.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant is accused of driving his vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and striking another vehicle and then hitting a traffic light pole, which resulted in the death of his friend who was a passenger in the front seat. Fortunately, the driver of the other vehicle escaped unharmed. This case is another heartbreaking reminder of the terrible and tragic consequences that can result from mixing alcohol and driving. The defendant will now have to live the rest of his life knowing that if he did not get behind the wheel that morning, his friend would still be alive.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Reginald Gustave, 23, of 85 Salem Road in Valley Stream, New York, a sales associate and part-time Nassau Community College student. The defendant has been charged with Vehicular Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Criminally Negligent Homicide, Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs and Leaving the Scene of an Incident Without Reporting and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

The District Attorney said that a criminal complaint charges that on Sunday, January 8, 2006, at about 5:46 a.m. the defendant was operating a 1993 black Nissan Altima at a high rate of speed proceeding westbound on North Conduit Avenue and Guy Brewer Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, Queens, when he struck the front of another vehicle – a 1995 Range Rover – headed southbound at the intersection. It is alleged that the defendant then hit a traffic light pole, causing injuries to his front seat passenger, Joseph Cajuste, 25, of Miramar, Florida, who died as a result of his injuries. The defendant allegedly fled on foot without reporting the incident to police, leaving the victim, Cajuste, and a 23-year-old rear passenger, who sustained minor injuries, inside the vehicle.

District Attorney Brown said that the complaint additionally charges that the defendant admitted that he was drinking alcohol with his friends at a Queens nightclub and that he was driving them home when the incident occurred and that he thereafter fled on foot. The defendant later surrendered to the New York City Police Department’s 105th Precinct Detective Squad at about 10:30 a.m. and allegedly had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and blood shot watery eyes.

The defendant was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court earlier today before Judge Mary O’Donoghue who set bail of $100,000 and a return date of January 26, 2006.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Frank Sinacori of the New York City Police Department’s Accident Investigation Squad and Police Office Michael Montana of the New York City Police Department’s Highway Unit Three.

Assistant District Attorney Jasmine Chang of the District Attorney’s Homicide Investigations Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter T. Reese, Bureau Chief, Peter J. McCormack III, Deputy Bureau Chief, and Richard B. Schaeffer, Senior Trial Attorney, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.

It should be noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.