Robert Feder of Huntington Station has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a Nassau County deputy attorney in a Westbury car crash last May while under the influence of cocaine.
Feder, 51, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, attempted murder in the second degree, and driving while ability impaired by drugs on Oct. 29.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that on May 4, police officers potted Feder cross a solid white line while driving a stolen 2010 Hyundai Elantra east on Old Country Road in Westbury. After Feder turned north onto Ellison Avenue, he increased speed and ran every stop sign.
Instead of stopping, Feder accelerated away from the police car and ran the red light at Maple Avenue, broadsiding 62-year-old John Carney of Levittown as he drove his 1997 Buick west. Carney was a 37-year veteran of the Nassau County Attorney's Office. 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. The vehicle he was driving was stolen from a Hyundai dealership in Hicksville and bore stolen license plates from Florida. Tests revealed that Feder had taken cocaine prior to the crash and multiple crack pipes were found in the glove box of the stolen car.
"Mr. Carney dedicated 35 years of his life to public service to the people of Nassau County, and he will be truly missed as a member of his community," Rice said. "This defendant's drug-fueled decision to get behind the wheel ensured that this crash was not an accident, but an inevitability."
