On Wednesday, officials announced that the police officer who killed a woman while driving drunk will face stiffer charges.
The woman, Vanessa Raghubar, had not been drinking that night because she was the designated driver and was taking her sister and her sister’s boyfriend home from a birthday party when she was hit by Officer Neville Smith.
Raghubar died of injuries from the crash on Monday, prompting the stiffer charges from the Queens District Attorney’s office. The charges now include vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
— Queens woman dies after drunken off-duty cop slams into car —
“Vanessa didn’t drink,’’ Raghubar’s cousin, Diana Chand, said. “She refused because she was driving some of us back. They did blood tests at the hospital after she was hit — it showed she didn’t have a drop.”
Raghubar’s sister, Maria Raghubar, has undergone surgery for her injuries, which include a broken pelvis as well as other severe internal damage. Maria’s boyfriend was also treated for injuries and released, and Smith suffered minor injuries during the crash as well.
