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Locust Valley man pleads guilty in Glen Cove crash

Rose Weldon
The intersection of Walnut Road and Forest Avenue in Glen Cove, where an allegedly drunk driver struck an ambulette last year, killing the patient inside. (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)

A Locust Valley man pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges for driving drunk and crashing into an ambulette in 2019, killing the patient inside, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced this week.

Alvaro Gutierrez-Garcia, 29, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, assault in the second degree and aggravated driving while intoxicated before Judge Robert McDonald and is expected to be sentenced to six to 12 years in prison on. The defendant will also have his driver’s license revoked for one year.

“The defendant was nearly three times the legal limit and speeding when he crashed into an ambulette, flipped the emergency vehicle over, and killed retired NYPD detective Denis Motherway, while seriously injuring an EMT,” DA Singas said. “The Motherway family has experienced extraordinary losses due to the behavior of drunk drivers and we continue to express our condolences as they mourn the loss of Denis and Timothy.”

Singas said that on Sept. 1, 2019, at approximately 11:45 p.m., defendant Alvaro Gutierrez-Garcia was allegedly driving a 1997 Cadillac sedan eastbound at a high rate of speed on Forest Avenue in Glen Cove when he struck a private ambulette driving southbound on Walnut Road. The force of the crash caused the ambulette, which was transporting a patient to Glen Cove Hospital, to overturn.

Denis Motherway, 85, the patient being treated inside the ambulette, later died of injuries suffered during the crash. Motherway was a retired detective with the New York Police Department whose son, Timothy Motherway, had previously been killed in a drunk driving crash in March 2009.

Gutierrez-Garcia’s front-seat passenger suffered minor injuries, and the emergency medical technician inside the ambulette suffered serious physical injuries, while the driver of the ambulette suffered minor injuries. Further investigation revealed that Gutierrez-Garcia had a blood alcohol concentration of .22, approximately two hours after the crash.

He is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 9. Senior District Attorneys Lisa Corso and Tara DePalo of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting the case, and Gutierrez-Garcia is represented by Jeff Groder of Mineola.

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