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Syosset Man Sentenced For Striking Man, 3-Year-Old Girl During DWI Crash

A 37-year-old Long Island man was sentenced to years in prison for driving while intoxicated at more than three times the legal limit and striking a man and a 3-year-old girl.

A 37-year-old Long Island man was sentenced to years in prison for driving while intoxicated at more than three times the legal limit and striking a man and a 3-year-old girl.

A 37-year-old Long Island man was sentenced to years in prison for driving while intoxicated at more than three times the legal limit and striking a man and a 3-year-old girl.

Photo Credit: Pixabay/diegoparra

Varun Datt, of Syosset, was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, according to an announcement from Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnell.

He pleaded guilty in April to charges of aggravated vehicular assault, second-degree assault, and aggravated driving while intoxicated, Donnell said. 

Donnell said the crash happened on May 31, 2021, on a residential street in Syosset.

Datt was driving while intoxicated at about 4:30 p.m. and veered onto the wrong side of the street, the DA's Office said. 

His vehicle then went onto the sidewalk and struck a man and the man's 3-year-old niece, according to the announcement. 

“After jumping the sidewalk and colliding with a man and his 3-year-old niece, who was found with minor injuries underneath the defendant’s vehicle, Datt simply sat behind the wheel, heavily intoxicated and surrounded by empty bottles of alcohol,” Donnelly said. “The defendant was more than three times the legal limit when he was arrested. Thankfully, no one was killed as a result of the defendant’s reckless and perilous decision to drink and drive. Today’s sentence serves as a warning: if you drink and drive, you will be prosecuted, and could spend significant time in prison.”

Police found Datt in the driver's seat when they arrived at the scene and located two empty bottles of rum in vodka in the car, the DA's Office said. 

The man who was struck was hospitalized for treatment of "extensive injuries," including a tear in his knee that required him to use a wheelchair for six weeks, Donnell said.

The girl was hospitalized for treatment of abrasions and trauma, the report said.

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