Montauk Woman Gets 3–9 Years in Prison for Fatal DWI Crash

A woman was sentenced Thursday to three-to-nine years in prison for driving drunk and causing a crash that killed a 28-year-old bicyclist nearly two years ago in Montauk, which both the victim and driver called home.

Lisa Rooney, 32, pleaded guilty in March to aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance. She was sentenced by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro.

“The victim was simply making his way home from work when his life was tragically cut short by this defendant’s actions,” Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said.

Prosecutors said Rooney had a blood alcohol content of 0.18% while driving a Chevrolet Silverado northbound on Flamingo Avenue when she veered into oncoming traffic, overcorrected, drove onto the shoulder and hit the bicyclist before her truck rolled over in an embankment at 6 p.m. on October 30, 2019.

The bicyclist, John James Usma Quintero, was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Rooney refused a breath test and a chemical test of her blood, but a search warrant for a chemical test of her blood revealed her BAC was more than double the legal limit 3 1/2 hours after the crash, authorities said.

East Hampton Town Police officers who responded to the scene found several bags of cocaine near Rooney’s vehicle and one bag of cocaine on the floorboard of her vehicle. Investigators determined that she was driving 85 mph at the time of the crash.