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Drunk Driver in Fatal Crash Gets Up to 9 Years in Prison, DA Says

By Nicholas Rizzi | June 30, 2017 5:48pm
 Joseph Auteri, 21, was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for driving drunk and crashing his car on the Belt Parkway in 2015, killing a 19-year-old woman, prosecutors said.
Joseph Auteri, 21, was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for driving drunk and crashing his car on the Belt Parkway in 2015, killing a 19-year-old woman, prosecutors said.
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Brooklyn District Attorney's Office

NEW YORK CITY — A Staten Island man will spend three to nine years in prison for being behind the wheel in a drunken crash on the Belt Parkway that killed a 19-year-old woman, prosecutors said.

Joseph Auteri, 21, of Woodrow, was sentenced Thursday in Brooklyn Supreme Court after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in May for the crash, Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.

"What started as a night out with friends ended tragically, costing one woman her life," Gonzalez said in a statement. "The defendant made a terrible decision when he got behind the wheel while drunk. He has now been held accountable for his actions."

Auteri was speeding in the left lane the Belt Parkway on Nov. 8, 2015, with four passengers in the car when he crossed lanes of traffic to get to the 65th Street and Fourth Avenue exit at about 6:30 a.m., authorities said.

He crashed his car into guardrail causing it to flip over and ejecting Wiktoria Filc into the road, the New York Daily News reported.

The passengers were all taken to Lutheran Hospital where Filc was pronounced dead.

Auteri had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and a blood alcohol content of .11, over the legal limit of .08, prosecutors said.