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Epileptic Driver Off Meds Indicted for Homicide in Fatal Halloween Crash

By Eddie Small | October 19, 2016 5:17pm
 Howard Unger has been indicted on homicide charges for a car crash from last Halloween that killed Nyanna Aquil and her grandfather Louis Perez (L-R).
Howard Unger has been indicted on homicide charges for a car crash from last Halloween that killed Nyanna Aquil and her grandfather Louis Perez (L-R).
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THE BRONX — An epileptic driver off his medication was indicted Wednesday for homicide and manslaughter for the Halloween car crash that killed three people, including a 10-year-old girl, according to the Bronx District Attorney's Office.

Howard Unger, whose medication levels in his blood were far below the prescribed level, stands accused of crashing into a group of trick-or-treaters on a sidewalk in The Bronx near Morris Park and Bogart Avenues around 5 p.m. last Halloween after he had an epileptic seizure, killing 65-year-old Louis Perez, his 10-year-old granddaughter Nyanna Aquil, and 24-year-old Kristjan Leka, who was hit after pushing his fiancée out of the way, officials said.

Aquil's 3-year-old and 8-year-old sisters were also injured in the crash, as were Leka's 9-year-old sister and a 21-year-old woman, police said.

Unger has been charged with three counts of criminally negligent homicide, three counts of manslaughter and three counts of assault, according to court papers.

He had been been driving a 2011 Dodge Charger when he bumped into a Toyota Camry with it, jumped a curb and crashed into six people before coming to a stop on Morris Park Avenue between Bogart and Fowler Avenues, police said.

Unger was not arrested immediately, and former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at the time that the investigation would focus on his health.

Medical evidence showed that Unger has had epilepsy since roughly the 1980s but had not been taking medication as prescribed before the crash, as tests taken at the hospital showed that the level of medicine in his blood was far below the proper level, according to court documents.

Unger's bail was set at $75,000, and he is due back in court on Nov. 21, the Bronx DA's Office said.

His lawyer Lawrence Sheehan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.