STATEN ISLAND — The charges against the man accused of plowing his car into a Tottenville home last year, injuring a mother and her daughter inside, were upped by a grand jury last week, according to officials and reports.
Charles Trainor, 23, was hit with a 10 count indictment that includes aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular assault, assault driving while intoxicated and reckless driving at a recent court appearance, the Staten Island Advance originally reported.
In September, Trainor allegedly plowed his 2010 Hyundai Elantra through the kitchen of 5309 Arthur Kill Rd. injuring Lisa Micciulla-Roman, 40, and her daughter Leonora, 5.
The house was the site of an eerily similar crash in 2002 in which a car narrowly missed a woman inside.
Prosecutors said that Trainor blew through the stop sign on Lee Avenue driving at high speeds while intoxicated by alcohol, court records show.
Trainor pleaded not guilty in court to the upgraded charges — including aggravated vehicular assault — on Wednesday.
The crash trapped Micciulla-Roman and her daughter, who were sleeping on a couch, and left them with severe injuries.
Leonora suffered a skull and eye-socket fractures as well as multiple lacerations, while Micciulla-Roman had severe burns that required two surgeries and a skin graft, the Advance said.
In December, Micciulla-Roman filed a lawsuit against the city in December for $20 million for allegedly failing to maintain the roadways and intersection. The court papers say that a metal guardrail and signs could have prevented the crash.
"It's incredible to me that the same type of accident — at the same location and involving the same house — happened 10 years ago," Jonathan D'Agostino, Micciulla-Roman's attorney, told the Advance in December.
Trainor is due back in court on May 23.
