The man accused in a horrific drunken driving crash that killed a 21-year-old Brooklyn woman on the Williamsburg Bridge was driving almost double the speed limit at the time, according to a criminal complaint.
Stefan Hoyte, 26, is facing numerous charges following the crash that killed Amanda Miner, of Williamsburg, about 3:15 a.m. Thursday.
Miner was in the backseat of a 2013 Infinity four-door sedan, with Hoyte behind the wheel, heading eastbound on the bridge when the vehicle struck the median that divides the inner and outer lanes and then struck a support pillar, police said. The car split in half, and Miner was thrown from the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to cops.
Miner’s boyfriend, a 24-year-old fellow traffic agent, was sitting in the passenger seat at the time of the crash, according to a source. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center with minor injuries, police said.
When officers arrived on the scene, police said Hoyte, an NYPD Traffic Enforcement Agent who was off-duty at the time, admitted he was the driver and appeared to be drunk.
According to officers, Hoyte admitted he was driving about 50 or 60 miles per hour at the time of the crash, the complaint said. The speed limit for the bridge is 35 miles per hour. Additionally, officers reported that Hoyte admitted to having two alcoholic drinks at a bar before the crash. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.103 percent, according to a source. That blood-alcohol limit would have been above New York’s 0.08 percent limit.
Officers said Hoyte smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on his feet and had watery eyes, according to the complaint.
Hoyte, who has been suspended from the police department, was arraigned on charges of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and assault, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said. Bail was set at $100,000 cash or bond and he is due back in court on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.
This is the fourth time Hoyte has been suspended from the police department, according to a source, though the reason for the three prior suspensions were not immediately clear.
With Nicole Brown and Alison Fox
