By Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
JAY STREET — Thursday an NYPD officer was arraigned in Kings County Supreme Court for allegedly killing a Brooklyn woman two months ago when he was driving drunk in Flatlands.
Last month a Brooklyn grand jury indicted officer 30-year-old Andrew Kelly, charging him with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated. He appeared Thursday before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan D. Marrus.
Vionique Valnord was killed as she tried to hail a cab after a wedding reception on Sept. 25. Valnord’s family met with Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes on last month to discuss the case.
The Valnords’ attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, of 16 Court St., told the Eagle that Hynes assured them that officer Kelly would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and that if the Internal Affairs investigation turned up evidence of a police cover-up to aid Kelly, then those crimes will also be prosecuted.
There has been some allegations that police officers gave Kelly water and chewing gun at the scene of the accident to mask the smell of alcohol.
Well-known Brooklyn attorney Arthur Aidala said a blood-alcohol test showed Kelly had no alcohol in his system. However, the test was done seven hours after the accident, after the court ordered a blood test.
Authorities say officers at the scene smelled alcohol on Kelly’s breath, but he refused to take a breath test. Kelly and two other officers have been suspended in the incident.
The case has received more media attention lately, after a rash of drunk-driving deaths have occurred in the area allegedly at the hands of law enforcement officers.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net