Suffolk County, NY – A Yaphank woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter and multiple related charges for a 2024 crash on Middle Country Road that killed a 75-year-old passenger and injured her daughter, prosecutors announced.
Melissa Koprowski, 32, admitted she was drunk and high on marijuana when she attempted to make a left turn in front of oncoming traffic on November 22, 2024, striking a blue Nissan Rogue head-on at the intersection of Wading River Hollow Road in Middle Island.
The crash killed Esther Guy, 75, who was seated in the backseat of the Rogue alongside her two-year-old grandchild. The child was unharmed, while the driver – Guy’s daughter – was hospitalized with injuries.
Prosecutors said Koprowski’s Dodge Durango slammed into the Nissan, forcing it off the roadway and into a wooded shoulder. Toxicology tests later showed her blood alcohol concentration was .12 percent, with a high level of THC also present in her system.
Koprowski was charged with Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Vehicular Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Assault in the Second Degree, Assault in the Third Degree, multiple counts of Driving While Intoxicated, Driving While Ability Impaired by Drugs, Driving While Ability Impaired by a Combination of Alcohol and Drugs, and Reckless Driving.
She faces between 4 and 12 years in prison when sentenced on November 17 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz.
District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said the plea delivers accountability for a preventable tragedy.
The reckless turn left a grandmother dead, a daughter wounded, and a family forever scarred.
