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Fla. Woman Gets 2-6 Years for Fatal DWI Hit-and-run

Melissa McKiski
Melissa McKiski

A Florida woman was sentenced Wednesday to 2-to-6 years in prison for driving drunk and high on drugs when her car struck and killed a 22-year-old bicyclist in Carle Place in 2015.

Melissa McKiski, 23, had pleaded guilty in Nassau County court to manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, reckless endangerment and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

“This driver was drunk and high when she hit and killed…Charles Velazquez as he rode his bike. Then she fled the scene to hide her crime without even calling to get medical help for her dying victim,” Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said. “Nassau Police quickly apprehended this defendant, but the tragic consequences of her recklessness cost this innocent young man his life.”

Prosecutors said McKiski was drunk and high on marijuana while driving a Hyundai Santa Fe westbound on Old Country Road when she veered out of the middle lane into the right lane and struck the Queens man at 12:35 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2015.

The victim, who was riding with two other cyclists, was thrown to the ground and later taken to Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, where he was pronounced dead four hours later.

McKiski fled the scene and did not call 911, but officers apprehended her in Mineola.