Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Monday, July 26, that Tyrone Absolam, 42, has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, driving while under the influence of alcohol and other charges in the Saturday evening collision that killed a Long Island mother and her daughter near JFK Airport.
Absolam, of 133rd Avenue in Jamaica, is awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter in the first degree and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and reckless driving and other charges.
Absolam is still at Jamaica Hospital, where he is listed in serious condition.
According to the charges, Absolam was driving a 2018 Nissan Altima westbound on Rockaway Boulevard at a high rate of speed around 8:45 Saturday evening when he collided with a gray 2019 Chevy Cruze, driven by Diana Granobles, 31, at the intersection of Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.
Granobles was driving with her 10-year-old daughter Isabella eastbound and making a left northbound turn onto Guy R. Brewer Boulevard when the impact occurred.
Katz said police responding to the collision observed Absolam to have bloodshot watery eyes and to be in an intoxicated condition.
According to the charges, the officers administered two standardized field sobriety tests to the defendant and he failed them both.
At the time of arrest, according to the charges, Absolam told police, “I drank from my girlfriend’s cup of vodka and iced tea around 5 p.m. while we were at the beach. I was driving the grey Nissan that got into the accident. I just got it. It’s a new car. There are no issues with it. I was driving 50 miles per hour.”
The posted speed limit on Rockaway Boulevard and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard is 35 mph, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.
Absolam and his 38-year-old girlfriend were transported to Jamaica Hospital while her two children, a 10-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, were taken to Long Island Jewish Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center in serious but stable condition, according to the NYPD.
Granobles and her daughter were immediately transported to Jamaica Hospital, where they were pronounced dead from their injuries.
“As alleged, the defendant’s selfish, illegal choices resulted in the tragic death of a 10-year-old girl and her mother and caused injuries to himself and his passengers,” Katz said. “The rules of the road are not suggestions. They exist to keep motor vehicles from becoming deadly objects of construction. When they are ignored, the results can be catastrophic. The defendant allegedly got behind the wheel of his vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and then proceeded to drive recklessly.”
If convicted, Absolam faces up to 25 years in prison.
