People v. Fuller-Gist

38 Misc. 3d 690
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedNovember 28, 2012
StatusPublished

This text of 38 Misc. 3d 690 (People v. Fuller-Gist) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Criminal Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Fuller-Gist, 38 Misc. 3d 690 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Evelyn J. Laporte, J.

The defendant, David Fuller-Gist, is charged with operating a motor vehicle in the opposite direction of traffic on a one-way roadway (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1127 [a]); reckless driving (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1212); leaving the scene of an accident involving physical injury without reporting (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600 [2] [a]); and unsafe backing up of a motor vehicle (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1211 [a]). He moves to dismiss the charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving physical injury without reporting (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600 [2] [a]) pursuant to CPL 30.30 (1) (b) on the grounds that he has been denied his statutory right to a speedy trial on that charge as it has not been made facially sufficient under CPL 170.35. It is noted that the defendant has not moved to dismiss the charge for facial insufficiency pursuant to CPL 100.40, 170.30 and 170.35. For the reasons that follow, the defendant’s motion to dismiss this charge under CPL 30.30 is denied.

Facial Sufficiency

To be sufficient on its face a misdemeanor information must contain factual allegations of an evidentiary character demonstrating reasonable cause to believe the defendant committed [692]*692the offenses charged. (CPL 100.15 [3]; 100.40 [1] [b]; 70.10.) These facts must be supported by nonhearsay allegations which, if true, establish every element of the offenses. (CPL 100.40 [1] [c].) An information which fails to satisfy these requirements is jurisdictionally defective. (CPL 170.30, 170.35; People v Alejandro, 70 NY2d 133 [1987]; People v Dumas, 68 NY2d 729 [1986].)

Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600 (2) (a) provides that any person operating a motor vehicle who, knowing or having cause to know that personal injury has been caused to another person, due to an incident involving the motor vehicle operated by such person shall, before leaving the place where the said personal injury occurred, stop, exhibit his license and insurance identification card, give his name, residence and other enumerated information to the injured party, if practical, and also to a police officer. After a review of the court papers, relevant facts, case law and statutes, the court comes to the following conclusions regarding the facial sufficiency of that count.

The complaint alleges that a bystander saw the defendant driving a car and striking a female pedestrian in the crosswalk. The car then shifted into reverse and drove backward down a one-way street, leaving the scene of the accident without displaying the required identification and insurance information. In the complaint the pedestrian states that she suffered bruising and substantial pain as a result of the collision. The People filed a supporting deposition from the bystander, but not from the injured pedestrian. The factual portion of the complaint reads as follows:

“[Police Officer Artese C. Davis] is informed by Etis[yai] Prince, that at [approximately 1:16 p.m. at Lewis Avenue and Bainbridge Street in Kings County, New York State] the informant observed the defendant driving a 2003 Cadillac Seville NY State license No. DRP5337 and that defendant did strike Joan Cooper, a pedestrian who was crossing the above-mentioned intersection.
“Deponent is further informed by the informant that the defendant then began driving in reverse in the wrong direction down Lewis Avenue and then left the scene of the above-mentioned collision without exhibiting the defendant’s license or insurance identification card to the informant.
“Deponent is further informed by Joan Cooper that the defendant did not report the above-mentioned [693]*693collision to any police officer and that the above-described collision caused informant to suffer bruising about the body, and to suffer substantial pain.”

The complaint is accompanied by a supporting deposition from Etisyai Prince dated August 25, 2011.

The defendant argues that facial sufficiency of the charge of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600 (2) (a) requires that allegations of pain and injury to Ms. Cooper must be corroborated through a sworn statement from Ms. Cooper herself. This court agrees that absent a sworn allegation of circumstantial facts that tend to make it clear that Ms. Cooper suffered physical injury, a supporting deposition would be required to corroborate this essential element of that charge.

Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600 (2) (a) requires that the driver of a motor vehicle that is involved in an accident must know or have reason to know a human being has been physically injured as a result of an accident involving the defendant’s vehicle. The complaint states that the bystander, Etisyai Prince, observed the defendant’s vehicle strike Ms. Joan Cooper. But there is no description of what the defendant was able to perceive or should have been able to observe from the defendant’s vantage point.

The People assert that the defendant displayed evidence of guilty knowledge of Ms. Cooper’s injury by putting the car into reverse and driving backward down a one-way street in the wrong direction. This court finds that while this action may be used to support the accompanying charges of operating a motor vehicle in the opposite direction of traffic on a one-way roadway (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1127 [a]); reckless driving (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1212); and unsafe backing up (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1211 [a]), there are no grounds for concluding that the defendant was motivated by the particular knowledge that a human being had been injured.

Here, the only thing one can gather from the facts in the complaint is that the defendant wanted to leave the area quickly and was willing to drive recklessly in order to do so. The fact that it happened immediately after he was observed having an accident does not allow the presumption of the defendant’s knowledge that the impact was with a human being or that such person necessarily suffered a physical injury as a result of the vehicular accident.

Accordingly, this court finds that the factual allegations in the information do not give the defendant sufficient notice to prepare a defense and prevent the defendant from being twice

[694]*694tried for the same crime of leaving the scene of an accident involving physical injury without reporting as charged based upon the events that occurred on August 21, 2011 (People v Casey, 95 NY2d 354, 360 [2000]). For the foregoing reasons, this court agrees with the defendant that the charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving physical injury without reporting has not yet been converted in the instant complaint.

CPL 30.30 Calculations

Defendant moves to dismiss the charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving physical injury without reporting (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600 [2] [a]) pursuant to CPL 30.30 (1) (b) on the grounds that he has been denied his statutory right to a speedy trial on that count.

Under CPL 30.30 (1) (b) the People must be ready for trial within 90 days from the commencement of a criminal action when the defendant is charged with one or more offenses, at least one of which is an A misdemeanor or unclassified misdemeanor punishable by no more than one year in jail. Once the defendant has alleged a delay of more than this allowable time, the People have the burden of demonstrating sufficient excludable time in order to withstand a motion to dismiss.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
38 Misc. 3d 690, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-fuller-gist-nycrimct-2012.