A jury on Thursday convicted a Long Island man of triggering an auto accident that caused the death of a police officer even though another driver actually struck the officer.
The Nassau County jury found James Ryan guilty of 10 of 13 charges, however, they acquitted him of the most serious one — aggravated vehicular homicide.
Prosecutors said Officer James Oliveri's October 2012 death was Ryan's fault because his reckless driving caused a chain-reaction crash. He was convicted on charges including aggravated criminally negligent homicide, vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and reckless endangerment.
Ryan's Toyota hit a BMW on the Long Island Expressway and then was hit by another car. A few minutes later, an SUV driver smashed into Ryan's car before hitting Olivieri.
Assistant District Attorney Maureen McCormick said in closing arguments that Ryan "drove wildly, recklessly and drunk," turning the Long Island Expressway "into his own drunken speedway."
Ryan's attorney conceded during his closing argument that Ryan had been drinking and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13, which is higher than the state's threshold of 0.08. But attorney Marc Gann said the SUV driver failed to avoid crashing into the wreckage from Ryan's earlier accident.
The case was watched closely by legal experts, who said it was rare for someone other than a driver directly involved in a crash to be charged. The charges apparently were based on prosecutors' belief that Ryan should have been able to foresee the outcome of his actions.
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Ryan had been free on bail but was remanded to custody pending sentencing.
