Freeport, N.Y. woman sentenced to 6 months for running over man twice in strip mall parking lot
NEW YORK - A Long Island woman who ran over a man twice in a strip mall parking lot, killing him, was sentenced Friday.
Kathleen Donnelly was sentenced to six months in jail for criminally negligent homicide. She initially blamed the car before pleading guilty. Her license was revoked, and the judge warned if she gets behind the wheel after her six months in local jail, he'll send her to prison.
Stephen Schier's relatives believed it was no accident, but a crime.
Video shows Schier leaving a Freeport drug store. Donnelly's car can be seen barreling out of a parking space, running him over in reverse. Then, as Schier lay on the ground, she ran over him again.
Donnelly wasn't charged for 14 months.
At sentencing, prosecutors revealed Donnelly, 57, bought a case of beer and, moments before the crash, poured some into her coffee cup. She apologized for "poor judgment," and said she's "agonized, cried and prayed every day" about how sorry and devastated she is.
Initially, she told police and witnesses it was the car's fault. Inspections found nothing wrong with car.
"I was not going to let my brother's death go without getting some justice for him," brother Larry Schier said. "The pain we have gone through waiting and waiting and waiting."
"Thank God there was a video, so they could arrest her," sister Taryn Cloonan said.
The victim was a beloved intellect.
"Unbelievable person. Brilliant. I had the best conversations. He was so special," brother-in-law Bill Cloonan said.
Judge blasts how case was handled
The judge blasted the initial handling of the case by the Freeport police, saying they didn't ask for a warrant for a blood alcohol test after a breathalyzer was inconclusive.
"For the life of me, I can't understand why the Nassau police or DA wasn't contacted," the judge added.
Schier's family has long charged Donnelly got special treatment.
"It was because they knew who she was. Basically, the judge - without saying it - said it," Larry Schier said.
The attorney for the Village of Freeport told CBS New York that the comments from the court are the first time Freeport has heard these allegations. Until the village is able to review the judge's comments and investigate it, "we are unable to comment. "
Kathleen Donnelly is not related to the Nassau District Attorney, who has the same last name.
