Crime & Safety

Man Pleads Guilty in Fatal Crash

Drug use blamed in crash that killed Nassau County attorney

A Huntington Station driver pleaded guilty Friday to several charges in a car crash that killed a Nassau County deputy attorney in May.

Robert Feder, 51, will be sentenced Dec.10 in the Westbury crash that killed John Carney, 62, of Levittown. He faces 16 years in prison.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Feder had pleaded guilty  to both aggravated vehicular homicide and attempted second-degree murder  and driving while ability is impaired by drugs.
 
Rice said that on May 4,  Nassau County police officers saw Feder cross a solid white line while driving a stolen 2010 Hyundai Elantra east on Old Country Road in Westbury. After Feder turned north, he increased speed and ran every stop sign, leading the officers to activate their lights and sirens in attempt to stop him.
 
Instead, Feder accelerated away from the police car and ran a red light, broadsiding Carney as he drove his 1997 Buick west. Carney was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of a van stopped at the red light was also injured in the crash.
 
At the time of the crash, Feder did not have a valid driver's license and had had his license suspended 19 times, Rice said. The vehicle he was driving was stolen from a Hyundai dealership in Hicksville and affixed with stolen license plates from Florida. Tests showed that Feder had taken cocaine before the crash and multiple crack pipes were found in the glove box of the stolen car.
 
"This defendant exhibited an absolute indifference to any and all drivers on the road that day, with tragic results,"  Rice said. "His drug-fueled rampage behind the wheel of a stolen car, along with his total disregard for speed limits, stop signs and the safety of others on the road, took the life of hard-working Nassau County Attorney John Carney, who was out on his lunch break, just miles from his place of work."

Carney was a 37-year veteran of the Nassau County Attorney's Office. As a deputy county attorney, Carney was responsible for preparing the county's defense in various legal cases.

Feder will be sentenced by Nassau County Judge Meryl Berkowitz.

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