Driver Kathleen Donnelly criminally charged over 1 year fatally striking man in Long Island strip mall parking lot
FREEPORT, N.Y. -- A driver who pulled out of a parking space in a Long Island strip mall and ran a man over, killing him, is now criminally charged, over a year later.
As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reports, the driver claimed it was an accident, but the victim's grieving family demanded justice.
Disturbing video taken in 2021 shows a Freeport man run over by a car twice. To his devastated brother, there's no question.
"This was a crime," Larry Schier said. "The speed that she had to pull out."
In that video, 71-year-old Stephen Schier is seen leaving a strip mall as a car barrels out of a space, running him over in reverse. The vehicle strikes a parked car, then, as Stephen, lay on the ground, runs him over again.
"I will never bring my brother back. I want some justice for my brother, but I want to save the lives of other people," Larry Schier said.
Stephen Schier succumbed to devastating injuries. For 14 months, the family urged prosecution of the driver, Kathleen Donnelly, no relation to Nassau County District Attorney Ann Donnelly.
"The pain we have gone through, my family, waiting and waiting and waiting," Larry Schier said.
READ MORE: Exclusive: Long Island Family Demanding Answers After Video Shows Woman Run Over Freeport Man Twice
Bonnie Weinstein witnessed the horror of the driver's reaction.
"'My car, my car, it was my car,' but they impounded her car and they found nothing wrong with it," she said.
Weinstein says she didn't understand the lack of criminal charges.
"Turn your head around and back up slowly, that's what everybody does," she said.
Now, a grand jury has indicted Donnelly for criminally negligent homicide.
CBS2 tried to reach her, but there was no comment at her home.
The indictment follows a DMV hearing and the revocation of her license, finding she "could not have looked behind her vehicle," did not back up safely or use due care in a parking lot, and committed gross negligence, reckless disregard for human life.
The DA's office declined to say what took so long.
Larry Schier says Stephen, an intellect, a world traveler and pillar of the community, deserves justice.
"Now my brother can rest in peace," he said.
Donnelly is facing one-and-a-third to four years if convicted. The victim's family says they don't want to ruin Donnelly's life but are looking for accountability and remorse.
An attorney for the victim's family applauded the DA's extensive investigation, saying, "a senseless and horrific tragedy. Heartbreaking. The family wants justice and the District Attorney's office appears to have conducted an extensive investigation and uncovered facts which resulted in a criminal charge."
Donnelly entered a not guilty plea and maintains she did not immediately know she had struck a person.
