Somers woman killed in 2015 crash

Retired Carmel police officer Richard O’Keefe pleaded guilty on Feb. 22 to negligent homicide for a 2015 crash that left a woman dead. He will serve a year in the Putnam County Jail.

O’Keefe was intoxicated and speeding in his minivan on Route 6 in Mahopac on Nov. 14, 2015, when a vehicle driven by Anna Estrada pulled out of the Route 6 Plaza in front of him. Her Jeep flipped, killing Fran Ghelarducci, 54, a teaching assistant at an elementary school in the Somers school district, who was a passenger in the back seat.

A state police investigation found that O’Keefe had a blood–alcohol content three times the legal limit, according to Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy.

O’Keefe was initially charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and second-degree vehicular manslaughter, as well as a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated. But an investigation concluded Estrada had contributed to the crash and the charges were reduced to negligent homicide.

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One reply on “Retired Carmel Officer Pleads Guilty to Negligent Homicide”

  1. How about convening a Town Hall meeting inviting Putnam County District Attorney Tendy to explain this extraordinary reduction of charges, foregoing jury trial and sentencing of a former police officer and town councilman admittedly intoxicated at the time of the fatal accident? Has justice been done or have we been done by a justice system that is truly blind?

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