Brooklyn man pleads guilty for fatal wrong-way wreck in North Hills

Amelia Camurati
Courtney Corbett, 29, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in Nassau County Court Tuesday to second-degree manslaughter in the death of his pregnant girlfriend. (Photo courtesy of Nassau County Police Department)

A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter for a wrong-way crash in North Hills last summer that killed his pregnant fianceé while he was fleeing from police.

Courtney Corbett, 29, pleaded guilty in Nassau County Court to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, third-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer and reckless driving, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a news release.

Demytra Gibbs was killed in the crash.

“It is heartbreaking and incomprehensible that Demytra Gibbs and her unborn child were killed because this defendant drove like a madman to avoid shoplifting charges,” Singas said. “There can be no justification and no excuse for the risks the defendant took with everyone’s lives on the road that day or for the lives that he cut short within his own car.”

On June 18, a shoplifting incident at Americana Manhasset was reported to Nassau County police. Officers spotted the suspect’s vehicle traveling south on Shelter Rock Road near Northern Boulevard.

Officers attempted to stop the car with lights and sirens, but Corbett fled, officers said, swerving around vehicles and running through several red lights along Shelter Rock Road.

Corbett turned west onto the eastbound Long Island Expressway service road, hitting an Audi head-on and killing Gibbs, who was six months pregnant, along with her fetus.

Corbett, a passenger in Corbett’s back seat and the 44-year-old Audi driver were injured but survived.

Corbett’s sentencing is set for Jan. 3, and Singas said she is recommending a sentence of six to 12 years in prison.

Share this Article