What to Know
- NYPD Sgt. Randolph Price has been indicted in the off-duty fiery car crash that killed a 27-year-old cop, his passenger, nearly a year ago
- Price, 33, faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence in the Feb. 1, 2017 crash that killed Bianca Bennett
- Bennett was an office for just 10 months when she died; she was also months from marrying her high school sweetheart
An NYPD sergeant has been indicted in the off-duty fiery crash that killed his passenger, a 27-year-old rookie police officer months from marrying her high school sweetheart, in the Bronx nearly a year ago.
Randolph Price, who was hurt in the Feb. 1, 2017 crash that killed Bianca Bennett, faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol, prosecutors said Friday. Bennett had spent just 10 months on the force when she was killed in the late-night crash on City Island Road.
She was also months away from getting married.
Price had been with Bennett and two other people at a bar on City Island and allegedly drank enough to put him over the legal limit, prosecutors said. Shortly before midnight the night of the crash, his 2012 Dodge Charger went off the road onto a grassy circle at Park Drive, where it hit a stump, flipped over onto its roof and burst into flames.
Good Samaritans pulled Price from the fire, but Bennett was trapped. She died because of the flames, the official cause "thermal injuries," not the crash, prosecutors said; Price suffered critical injuries to his legs.
In a statement Friday, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark called the crash an "all the more senseless" tragedy "because it was avoidable."
Price was arraigned Thursday. If convicted of the top charge, he faces up to seven years in prison. Information on his attorney wasn't immediately clear.
