A Nassau County grand jury indicted a Roosevelt man for driving while high and drunk and causing the crash that killed his girlfriend on her 25th birthday in Hempstead last year, prosecutors said.
Horace Cummings pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, driving without a license and driving while ability impaired by combined influence of alcohol and drugs.
Nassau prosecutors said the 33-year-old suspect was driving a Nissan Altima westbound on Front Street when he crossed over the center line and collided head-on with another vehicle at 2:40 a.m. on Nov. 21, 2015.
His passenger and girlfriend, Diamond Hawkins, died in the crash. She had just turned 25 years old and had been given the Altima as a birthday gift. Cummings suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the other car was uninjured.
Judge Robert McDonald set bail for Cummings at $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash. Cummings faces up to 15 years in prison, if convicted. He is due back in court Sept.7.
