Locust Valley man to serve 6 to 12 years for Glen Cove ambulette 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 was sentenced on Tuesday to six to 12 years in prison for driving drunk and crashing into an ambulette, killing the patient inside, in 2019, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced.

Alvaro Gutierrez-Garcia, 29, pleaded guilty on Nov. 2 to aggravated vehicular homicide, assault in the second degree and aggravated driving while intoxicated before Judge Robert McDonald.

“Drunk drivers kill innocent people. The Motherway family has lost two members in two separate crashes 10 years apart because of DWI drivers and my heart goes out to them,” Singas said. “Timothy Motherway was killed in March 2009 and today the driver who killed Timothy’s father, retired NYPD detective Denis Motherway, was sentenced. This office will continue to hold these drivers criminally responsible to bring an end to drunk driving and the suffering it causes.”

Singas said that on Sept. 1, 2019, at approximately 11:45 p.m., the defendant was 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 south on Walnut Avenue. The force of the crash caused the ambulette, which was transporting Denis Motherway to Glen Cove Hospital, to overturn.

Motherway, 85, died of injuries suffered during the crash. He was a retired detective with the New York Police Department whose son, Timothy Motherway, had been killed in a drunken-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 0.22 approximately two hours after the crash.

Senior Assistant District Attorneys Lisa Corso and Tara DePalo of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case. The defendant is represented by Jeff Groder.

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