Four to 12 years in prison was not enough for the family of a New York doorman killed by an off-duty NYPD sergeant driving the wrong way. Relatives challenged the punishment at Tiffany Howell’s October 28 sentencing, ABC7 reported.
Manuel Boitel, 61, worked as a doorman in New York City. He was driving home to Peekskill after his shift when Howell struck his car.
Howell, 48, of Warwick, received concurrent prison terms in Westchester County Court, the New York Attorney General confirmed. The court also revoked her driver’s license.
The sentence followed her August 19 guilty plea to aggravated vehicular homicide and second-degree manslaughter. Judge Anne B. Bianchi had announced at that hearing that she would impose the four-to-12-year term, and Howell waived her right to appeal.
The Road Home
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At 11:37 p.m. on January 22, Howell was driving south in the northbound lanes of the Taconic State Parkway at more than 50 mph. Her car hit Boitel’s head-on, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
Her blood alcohol content was at least 0.18. The original indictment placed the crash in Mount Pleasant and charged her with five counts, including first-degree vehicular manslaughter and two counts of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, alongside the two offenses to which she later pleaded guilty.
The case fell under the Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation, which examines deaths that police or peace officers may have caused. Its authority covers officers both on and off duty, including cases in which the person who died was not in custody.
Words in Court
During the sentencing hearing covered by ABC7, Howell addressed Boitel’s family. “I know that I made a terrible decision, and I know that the consequences are irreversible,” she said.
Relatives rejected her apology and argued that her police background should have made her understand the harm caused by drunk driving. They also accused her of receiving preferential treatment because she had been a police officer.
ABC7’s courtroom reporter described Bianchi criticizing statements Howell had made during the preparation of her presentencing report. The judge called those statements “superficial, self-absorbed and wholly inadequate,” according to the broadcast.
Boitel’s family has also pursued a civil case. ABC7 reported that relatives filed a lawsuit against Howell and the City of New York.