A drunk driver from Jamaica was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide for a collision that killed a female motorist and her daughter last year, the Queens District Attorney’s office announced Friday, Sept. 16.
Tyrone Absolam, 42, of 133rd Avenue, pleaded guilty last month before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael B. Aloise, who on Sept. 15 handed down the 15-year sentence.
According to the indictment, at approximately 8:45 p.m. on July 24, Absolam was exceeding the speed limit as he drove a 2018 gray Nissan Altima westbound on Rockaway Boulevard.
Diana Granobles, 31, of Copiague, was making a left turn at the intersection of Rockaway and Guy R. Brewer boulevards when Absolam allegedly smashed into the victim’s Chevy Cruze. The woman’s 10-year-old daughter Isabella was in the car with her.
Both the mother and child were immediately transported to Jamaica Hospital, where they were pronounced dead from their injuries.
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 indictment.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Absolam’s blood alcohol level was allegedly .15, above the legal limit of .08.
The posted speed limit on Rockaway and Guy R. Brewer boulevards is 35 mph, but Absolam was allegedly traveling at 94 mph two seconds before crashing into the victim’s car.
“The defendant has now been held accountable for his actions that resulted in the tragic deaths of a mother and her young daughter,” Katz said. “No amount of accountability will heal the pain felt by this loss, but I hope today’s sentencing will provide a measure of closure to the loved ones of both victims.”
