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Long Island man sentenced up to 12 years in Brooklyn hit-and-run spree

May 8, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn D.A. Kenneth Thompson. Eagle file YouTube screenshot
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A Long Island man has been sentenced in a case of vehicular manslaughter that left a 9-year-old child dead and two others injured, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has learned. It has been reported that the driver was fleeing police at the time of the accident and had been the cause of two other car collisions prior to the deadly accident.

In April, the defendant, Kenneth Palache, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault for causing the death of a 9-year-old girl after rear-ending the van she was riding in and injuring two other passengers.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Foley presided over last week’s sentence proceeding.  Palache received four to 12 years on the manslaughter count and two years for each assault. Foley ordered the sentences to run concurrent.

According to an investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Palache collided into the victims’ minivan while fleeing from another car collision. In May 2014, Palache — who was driving with a suspended license — ran a red light and collided an SUV carrying a family of five, including three children, near the intersection of Foster Avenue and East 87th Street.

Palache fled the scene and was stopped by police about a mile away from the initial accident. He then sped away, hit yet another vehicle and then ran a red light on Remsen Avenue and Avenue M, going in excess of 50 miles per hour. He then struck the final victims’ black Hyundai Elantra minivan stopped at a red light on Remsen Avenue and Avenue N.

Rebecca Ramnarine, 9, who was seated in the rear of the minivan, was pinned in the van and removed by emergency service workers. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The victim’s friend, Faith Cummings, 11, who was seated next to her, was seriously injured, as was the driver of the van, Faith’s mother, Esther Cummings.

“This defendant senselessly killed a 9-year-old little girl and seriously injured another young child and her mother by driving recklessly on the streets of Brooklyn. He should have never been behind the wheel in the first place,” Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said in a released statement.

Palache faced a maximum of five to 15 years if convicted at trial. 


-Information provided by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office

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