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On Monday, acting Westchester County District Attorney James McCarty announced that Yonkers resident Efren Moreano, 22, pleaded guilty to felony charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment and vehicular manslaughter after he drove the wrong way on the Sprain Brook Parkway, where he collided with the NYPD detective who was driving the right direction on his way to work.
Shortly before 4 a.m. on Feb. 27 last year, Moreano was driving his Honda Civic when he entered the parkway driving north on the southbound Jackson Avenue exit in Greenburgh. He travelled nearly two miles, reportedly “forcing numerous drivers heading in the right direction to take evasive action, forcing some off the road.”
At the same time, Moreano’s eventual victim was on his way to work at a police precinct in Queens when his SUV was struck head on, killing the detective instantly. Moreano sustained serious injuries of his own, and had to be extricated from his vehicle before undergoing non-life threatening surgery.
Paul E. Duncan, 46, of Hartsdale, was killed in the crash, according to state police. Duncan, who was driving a 2011 Honda Pilot, was an off-duty NYPD detective, according to police. He was a Detective 1st Grade, assigned to their Internal Affairs Bureau, police said.
According to McCarty, emergency responders detected a strong odor of alcohol and marijuana on Moreano during the extrication. A New York State trooper would eventually find a small bag of the drug in the passenger side of the car.
Following his extrication and arrest, Moreano was found to have a blood alcohol content level of .16 percent, double the legal limit. He remains remanded in Westchester County Court. Moreano faces a mandatory prison sentence between three and 15 yeadrs. He is due to be sentenced on Wednesday, June 1.
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