A lawsuit was filed in Supreme Court in Westchester by Penelope Ward, the mother of 27-year-old Isaac Ward, who was a passenger in the vehicle being driven by Harry Kyreakedes, who was sentenced to a term of between two and a half to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge of first-degree vehicular manslaughter and aggravated DWI last October.
Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, Jr. said that at approximately midnight on Jan. 2, Kyreakedes was out drinking with friends, including his victim, 27-year-old Isaac Ward, at a bar in Dobbs Ferry. After a “period of time,” they then drove to White Plains to frequent a different watering hole.
According to Scarpino, shortly before 3 a.m., all four men left White Plains, taking two cars. While driving on Mamaroneck Avenue, Kyreakedes lost control of his SUV, crashing into a parking meter, stop sign and tree before coming to a rest in front of CVS, between Rutherford Street and Livingston Avenue.
Both Ward and Kyreakedes sustained serious injuries. Ward was given CPR at the scene and transported to White Plains Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Kyreakedes, who was pinned in the driver’s compartment following the crash, had to be extricated from the vehicle, suffering extensive injuries to his leg.
Kyreakedes, a Dobbs Ferry High School graduate, underwent a series of surgery at Westchester Medical Center, where samples of his blood were obtained through a court order and search warrant. Police said that samples of Kyreakedes’ blood showed that his blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was greater than .18 percent - more than double the legal limit.
In the lawsuit, Ward’s mother alleges that Kyreakedes was “negligent, reckless and careless.”
“Kyreakedes’ actions were of such a wanton, willful and reckless nature as to evince a callous disregard for human life,” the lawsuit reads, naming the owners and operators of the Brazen Fox, Brother Jimmys BBQ in White Plains and the Celtic Corner in Dobbs Ferry.
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