QUEENS, N.Y. — According to www.kiro7.com, Tracie McManus, 54, a mother of three, was crushed to death on Feb. 15th after a drunk carwash worker ran her over with a Jeep as he was driving out of the wash.
Edwin Vargas, 43, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.
Just before 2 p.m., McManus and her daughter were awaiting her freshly washed Ford Escape when Vargas, who was driving vehicles out of the carwash and onto an adjacent lot to be hand-dried by coworkers, drove a customer’s 2011 Jeep Liberty in the parking lot.
He crashed into and rolled over McManus, who was walking towards her vehicle after tipping the workers who had cleaned and dried it, and then slammed into a parked car on the lot before coming to a stop.
McManus was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where she died of her injuries.
Police took Vargas to the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills, where he submitted to a breath test.
Vargas’ blood alcohol concentration registered at .115, and the legal limit for drunken driving is .08, according to the article.
McManus was a widow whose husband died in 2012, and her family is stunned and grief-stricken by the sudden loss, the article noted.
Vargas wept at his arraignment the following day, and according to his lawyer, Matthew Thomas, “My client is remorseful and contrite about what happened.”
However, Thomas said that Vargas denied drinking the day he kill McManus.
Thomas said Vargas “adheres to his statement that he had some drinks the night before. My client completely denies having any drinks the morning or the afternoon of the accident.”
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