Off-Duty NYPD Officer Kills Woman in Drunken Crash

An NYPD detective will have the charges he incurred for ramming into a car with three people in it, while driving drunk on Sunday [April 23], upgraded, as it is reported that the 22-year-old driver of the totaled vehicle has succumbed to her injuries.

Officer Neville Smith, 32, will likely now face vehicular homicide, on top of the vehicular assault, and driving while intoxicated charges he was slammed with, when booked for sending Vanessa Raghubar's Honda into a tree and light pole at around 4 a.m. the morning of the accident.

Raghubar had been traveling home from a party with her sister Maria Raghubar, 21 and her sister's boyfriend Justin Harricharran, 20 when an off-duty Smith's Mercedes-Benz collided with them on the Van Wyck Expressway. They would each be rushed to Jamaica hospital, fortunate to have survived what photos show to be a horrific crash scene. But Vanessa would pass on Monday, and Maria remains in critical condition after four surgeries after suffering a broken arm, shredded bladder, and shattered pelvis. She has reportedly still not been informed that her sister didn't make it.

“He was a cop and he was drunk. We want justice. He was supposed to protect us, not kill us,” Vanessa and Maria's aunt Esther Mongul said in regards to the charges awaiting Smith, who also remains hospitalized. “I'm heartbroken. I never thought when she left home Saturday she would never come back to me.”

Source: nydailynews.com