Civil suit over 2021 Beacon accident pending
A City Court judge’s decision last year finding a Beacon woman guilty of not exercising “due care” to avoid hitting a pedestrian who later died has been reversed by a state appeals court.
Jacqueline Milohnic, 59 at the time, was driving a 2019 Jeep Wrangler on Dec. 1, 2021, when she turned left from Main Street onto Teller Avenue (Route 52) just after 3 p.m. and hit Carla Giuffrida, 75, a retired teacher who lived in Beacon, in the crosswalk.
According to police reports, Giuffrida suffered a serious head injury but was conscious and breathing while being treated by first responders. She died about five hours later at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
Milohnic was ticketed for failing to yield to a pedestrian; she told police that she had not seen Giuffrida because of a blind spot caused by the front left pillar of the Jeep’s frame and sun glare. According to court documents, a Beacon police officer conducted a field sobriety test that showed Milohnic was not impaired.
After Milohnic contested the ticket, City Court Judge Greg Johnston dismissed the failure-to-yield charge, saying it applied only if traffic control signals were not present or not working. But prosecutors asked Johnston to consider what they said was a lesser offense, and he found Milohnic guilty of failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian. Johnston found her guilty of that charge and fined her $750, revoked her license for six months and ordered her to complete a driver’s safety course.
Milohnic appealed, arguing that Johnston should not have considered the lesser offense and that his verdict “was against the weight of the evidence.” On Dec. 7, the appeals court agreed, reversing the conviction and dismissing the ticket.
In the decision, Judge Jerry Garguilo outlined several mistakes the appeals court said had been made during the prosecution. In nonjury trials that involve multiple counts, a judge must “state upon the record the counts upon which it will render a verdict,” he wrote. In addition, the second offense — in this case, failing to exercise due care — must be less serious than the first. Finally, the evidence should support “a finding that the defendant committed the lesser offense but not the greater.”
“The appellate court has acknowledged Ms. Milohnic was clearly denied a fair trial,” Natasha Turner, a Newburgh attorney who represented her in City Court, said on Wednesday (Dec. 20). “We are thankful the court has overturned Ms. Milohnic’s conviction and finally cleared her name and reputation.”
A civil suit filed in February by Giuffrida’s two adult children is pending in state court. It names Milohnic and her husband, who is the owner of the vehicle she was driving; the City of Beacon; and Kearns Electric, the company that services the city’s pedestrian signals.
The family alleges that Giuffrida was crossing Teller with a “Walk” signal and that Milohnic was “careless, reckless and negligent” and driving at “a dangerous and excessive rate of speed.” It also claims Milohnic failed to yield the right of way to Giuffrida or to operate her vehicle “as a reasonable and prudent person.”
The Giuffridas’ attorney, Richard Bonfiglio, wrote in court filings that, before her death, Giuffrida “experienced conscious pain and suffering as well as the anguish of the contemplation of her own demise.” The suit seeks a financial judgment “in amounts commensurate with the injuries and damages sustained.”
During Milohnic’s trial last year, Detective Brian Lawrence of the Beacon Police Department testified that the “Don’t Walk” signal was illuminated when Giuffrida entered the crosswalk. However, under state law, pedestrians always have the right of way in crosswalks and at intersections.
Two other witnesses testified that Giuffrida was looking at her cellphone and distracted. The day after the accident, a third witness told investigators that Milohnic had both hands on the wheel and appeared to be “paying attention to traffic” during her turn. The officer who responded to the 911 call acknowledged in his testimony that glare could have been a factor.
The Giuffridas’ suit also calls the intersection of Main and Teller “patently dangerous” and alleges that between Jan. 1, 2018, and Nov. 30, 2021, there were at least 35 crashes there, at least two of which involved pedestrians. It charges Kearns and the city with failing to program the signal correctly to provide a “leading pedestrian interval” of at least three seconds before the traffic light turns green.
The suit cites many other factors that it says make the intersection substandard, including the location of push buttons and the width of the crosswalk.
A statement released Wednesday by Bonfiglio, Lindsay Giuffrida and her brother, Mauro, suggested that Milohnic’s conviction had been overturned on a technicality and noted that the standard of proof required in the civil suit is lower.
“Carla’s family hopes that by bringing attention to this dangerous and avoidable condition, other lives might be saved — at this intersection and others throughout Beacon,” they said.
