A Brooklyn man admitted he was driving drunk on the Belt Parkway when he struck and killed a 63-year-old man who had stopped after a minor collision in 2020.
Jason Bical, 36, pleaded guilty on Nov. 2 to aggravated vehicular manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise, admitting he was under the influence of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol at the time of the fatal collision, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
At around 12:45 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2020, Bical was driving a white 2017 Chevrolet Malibu, registered to his family-owned business, Bical Chevrolet of Valley Stream, westbound on the Belt Parkway near 131st Street in South Ozone Park, according to the charges.
Taher Ali Hassan, also of Brooklyn, had just exited his vehicle to check on damage from a fender bender that occurred moments earlier when Bilal approached driving at 92 mph and struck the victim, the charges state.
Officers from the 106th Precinct arrived at the scene to find Hassan unconscious with trauma to his head. The 63-year-old victim was rushed by EMS to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with severe head trauma, where he died as a result of his injuries a day later.
Katz said that Bical took a portable breathalyzer test at the scene which indicated that his blood-alcohol level was allegedly .174, twice the legal limit. Further toxicology results showed Bical allegedly had both cocaine and marijuana in his system at the time of the collision. The automobile’s crash data allegedly revealed the defendant was traveling at 92 mph just five seconds before striking the victim. The posted speed limit on the Belt Parkway is 50 mph.
Bical, of East 73rd Street in the Bergen Beach section of Brooklyn, was the Service Department manager at Bical Auto Mall in Brooklyn at the time of the fatal crash.
“It is infuriating that this defendant, who already had two prior Driving While Ability Impaired by Alcohol convictions in Brooklyn in 2011 and 2015, made the deadly decision to get behind the wheel of a car while significantly intoxicated with drugs and alcohol,” Katz said. “The defendant was driving more than 40 miles per hour above the legal speed limit with cocaine in his vehicle when he caused this horrific incident. His guilty plea cannot undo this tragedy.”
Justice Aloise indicated he will sentence Bilal to five to fifteen years in prison on Dec. 13.
