For Immediate Release
January 19, 2021
Alvaro Gutierrez-Garcia was drunk when he crashed into the ambulette, killing patient inside, a retired NYPD Detective
MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Locust Valley man was sentenced today to six to 12 years in prison for driving drunk and crashing into an ambulette in 2019, killing the patient inside, a retired NYPD detective.
Alvaro Gutierrez-Garcia, 29, pleaded guilty on November 4 to aggravated vehicular homicide (a B felony), assault in the second degree (a D violent felony) and aggravated driving while intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor) before Judge Robert McDonald. Today, Judge McDonald sentenced the defendant to six to 12 years in prison.
“Drunk drivers kill innocent people. The Motherway family has lost two members in two separate crashes 10 years apart because of DWI drivers and my heart goes out to them,” DA Singas said. “Timothy Motherway was killed in March 2009 and today the driver who killed Timothy’s father, retired NYPD detective Denis Motherway, was sentenced. This office will continue to hold these drivers criminally responsible to bring an end to drunk driving and the suffering it causes.”
DA Singas said that on September 1, 2019, at approximately 11:45 pm, the defendant was driving a 1997 Cadillac sedan eastbound at a high rate of speed on Forest Avenue in Glen Cove, when he struck a private ambulette driving southbound on Walnut Avenue. The force of the crash caused the ambulette, which was transporting Denis Motherway to Glen Cove Hospital, to overturn.
Further investigation revealed that the defendant had a blood alcohol concentration of .22, approximately two hours after the crash.
Gutierrez-Garcia did not sustain any injuries during the crash, while his front-seat passenger suffered minor injuries. The EMT inside the ambulette suffered serious physical injuries, while the driver of the ambulette suffered minor injuries.
Denis Motherway, 85, the patient inside the ambulette, later died of injuries suffered during the crash. Mr. Motherway was a retired NYPD detective whose son, Timothy Motherway, was also killed in a drunk driving crash in March 2009.
Senior Assistant District Attorneys Lisa Corso and Tara DePalo of DA Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting this case. The defendant is represented by Jeff Groder, Esq.
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