Spare a thought for Violetta Kryzak.
In April 2009, the 37-year-old mom was crossing a Brooklyn street when a man fleeing police in a stolen van ran her down. The impact sent her body flying 165 feet.
The thief who killed her, Jose Maldonado, was convicted of her murder at trial. But this month, New York’s Court of Appeals rejected the murder conviction.
The reason? Because Maldonado had at times swerved to avoid hitting others or cars, judges ruled he didn’t meet the standard for “depraved indifference murder.”
The ruling is obscene.
The court’s own opinion says it’s “undisputed” that, rather than pull over as cops instructed him, Maldonado led them on a high-speed chase in which he “ran a red light, accelerated through intersections and went the wrong way down two one-way streets.”
After he killed Mrs. Kryzak, Maldonado “continued accelerating” and came to a stop only after he crashed into some parked cars. Even then, he tried to flee on foot.
If that’s not depraved indifference, we don’t know what is.
So what if he swerved. All that shows is that Maldonado wasn’t completely mad — and was trying to avoid an accident that might have halted his getaway.
Judge Eugene Pigott puts it well in the first two lines of his dissenting opinion:
“Once again, a person is dead because a defendant, concerned about being arrested for theft, led police on a high-speed chase through residential neighborhoods. And, once again, the majority treats this crime with unfathomable and unjustified leniency.”
We’re with Judge Pigott. Anyone who takes cops on a chase through city streets is guilty of depraved indifference to what might happen to innocent people who get in the way. And if the law isn’t clear that this is murder, legislators should fix it.
It’s too late for Violetta Kryzak. But such a clarification might make others think twice before they decide to lead cops on a potentially lethal car chase through our crowded city streets.