This makes me sick this monster is out walking the streets after killing 4 people. What a monster.
westbury
Suspect in 4 deaths released on bail
Prosecutor says driver's blood alcohol level was .13
BY DENISE M. BONILLA
STAFF WRITER
September 29, 2004
Gerrard Ganz drove on Old Country Road 'as if it was the Northern State Parkway,' speeding and weaving in and out of traffic before running a red light and plowing into a car full of teens in Westbury on Saturday, Nassau prosecutor Fred Klein said Tuesday at Ganz's arraignment on manslaughter charges.
Ganz, 32, of Syosset, was originally charged with driving while intoxicated in the crash that killed Anelie Thelemaque, 16, and Guy 'Myrakle' Victor, 19, both of Westbury, and Anastasia Mendez Burgess, 15, and Shauna Mattison, 15, both from the Bronx. Driver Tiffany Hagigal of Westbury remains in satisfactory condition in Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. Charges against Ganz were upgraded Monday to include four counts of manslaughter.
In First District Court in Hempstead Tuesday, Ganz's attorney, John Carman of Garden City, urged Judge David Gross to set a 'fair and reasonable' bail. Klein asked the judge to set bail at $1 million, saying Ganz is a flight risk and that authorities had been tipped he would flee the country. Gross set the bail at $750,000 bond or $500,000 cash and ordered Ganz to surrender his driver's license and passport.
Ganz was released on bail Tuesday, Carman said.
Klein said Ganz had been drinking at two bars before the crash and his passenger was 'so scared at the way the defendant operated the car that he told him to slow down.' But Ganz, he said, 'kept going faster and faster.' The passenger, who has not been identified, said he warned Ganz when he saw Hagigal's car turn in front of them but Ganz did not apply the brakes.
Klein told the judge Ganz's blood alcohol content registered .13 percent on a breath test done at the crash scene, which is .05 above the state's legal limit. Four hours after the crash, a separate test showed Ganz with a blood alcohol content of .06.
Klein said Ganz has prior citations for speeding, running a red light and going through a stop sign, and his license has been suspended twice. He said later that the incidents had occurred more than 10 years ago.
Ganz's parents were in court but declined to comment. 'They are devastated by what's happened to their son and to the other families as a result of the circumstances their son was involved in,' Carman said.
The aunt of Hagigal and Burgess, Olisa Fowlin, 28, of the Bronx, said she doesn't believe Ganz intentionally tried to hurt anyone, but the crash was avoidable and 'he's here another day to think about it.'
She said, 'We don't have Anna another day. We won't see Anna graduate from high school. We will never see her have a first love, have a child and get married. We won't see that.'
Staff writer Theresa Vargas contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
He should get life in prison.
Suspect in 4 deaths released on bail
Prosecutor says driver's blood alcohol level was .13
BY DENISE M. BONILLA
STAFF WRITER
September 29, 2004
Gerrard Ganz drove on Old Country Road 'as if it was the Northern State Parkway,' speeding and weaving in and out of traffic before running a red light and plowing into a car full of teens in Westbury on Saturday, Nassau prosecutor Fred Klein said Tuesday at Ganz's arraignment on manslaughter charges.
Ganz, 32, of Syosset, was originally charged with driving while intoxicated in the crash that killed Anelie Thelemaque, 16, and Guy 'Myrakle' Victor, 19, both of Westbury, and Anastasia Mendez Burgess, 15, and Shauna Mattison, 15, both from the Bronx. Driver Tiffany Hagigal of Westbury remains in satisfactory condition in Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. Charges against Ganz were upgraded Monday to include four counts of manslaughter.
In First District Court in Hempstead Tuesday, Ganz's attorney, John Carman of Garden City, urged Judge David Gross to set a 'fair and reasonable' bail. Klein asked the judge to set bail at $1 million, saying Ganz is a flight risk and that authorities had been tipped he would flee the country. Gross set the bail at $750,000 bond or $500,000 cash and ordered Ganz to surrender his driver's license and passport.
Ganz was released on bail Tuesday, Carman said.
Klein said Ganz had been drinking at two bars before the crash and his passenger was 'so scared at the way the defendant operated the car that he told him to slow down.' But Ganz, he said, 'kept going faster and faster.' The passenger, who has not been identified, said he warned Ganz when he saw Hagigal's car turn in front of them but Ganz did not apply the brakes.
Klein told the judge Ganz's blood alcohol content registered .13 percent on a breath test done at the crash scene, which is .05 above the state's legal limit. Four hours after the crash, a separate test showed Ganz with a blood alcohol content of .06.
Klein said Ganz has prior citations for speeding, running a red light and going through a stop sign, and his license has been suspended twice. He said later that the incidents had occurred more than 10 years ago.
Ganz's parents were in court but declined to comment. 'They are devastated by what's happened to their son and to the other families as a result of the circumstances their son was involved in,' Carman said.
The aunt of Hagigal and Burgess, Olisa Fowlin, 28, of the Bronx, said she doesn't believe Ganz intentionally tried to hurt anyone, but the crash was avoidable and 'he's here another day to think about it.'
She said, 'We don't have Anna another day. We won't see Anna graduate from high school. We will never see her have a first love, have a child and get married. We won't see that.'
Staff writer Theresa Vargas contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
He should get life in prison.
