Nassau Woman Pleads Guilty To Running Over Neighbor While Drunk

A Garden City woman pleaded guilty today to vehicular assault and other charges for running over a man while she was driving drunk last year.

Tara Guinnane, 48, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular assault, second-degree assault and aggravated DWI, District Attorney Madeline Singas said. Guinnane is due back in court on March 25, and is expected to be sentenced to two to six years in prison.

“The defendant was intoxicated – more than twice the legal limit – when she drove an SUV and struck a pedestrian as he walked home from the train station,” Singas said. “Because of her actions, the victim suffered a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury – injuries he has not fully recovered from. Drinking and driving is entirely inexcusable and this case is a reminder that there are serious consequences for people who endanger pedestrians in Nassau County.”

According to Singas, on Feb. 12, 2018, around 6:15 p.m., Guinnane was driving on Wilson Street in Garden City, where she lives, when she struck one of her neighbors, a 50-year-old man, who was walking home from the train station. Neighbors heard the collision and saw Guinnane and her 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee near the man. When Garden City police officers arrived, they found Guinnane was drunk and had empty liquor bottles in her car.

Two hours later, Guinnane had a blood alcohol content of .18 -- more than double the legal limit.

Photo courtesy Nassau County District Attorney's office