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Jordan Randolph, age 43, of Bellport, was sentenced to 12 1/2 to 25 1/2 years in prison in Suffolk County Court on Friday, June 16.
It followed his jury conviction for aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges in the death of Johnathan Flores Maldonado.
According to the Suffolk County DA’s office, Randolph had been out drinking for hours on Jan. 12, 2020 when he got behind the wheel of a Cadillac ATS while “extremely intoxicated.”
Later that night in Shirley, a Suffolk County Police officer watched as he swerved into oncoming traffic at the intersection of William Floyd Parkway and Rose Executive Boulevard, just outside the department’s Seventh Precinct.
The officer reported seeing Randolph reverse and then drive in the southbound lanes of William Floyd Parkway. When the officer attempted to pull him over, Randolph refused to stop and continued driving, prosecutors said.
Randolph then made a U-turn and fled from the officer “at a high rate of speed,” according to investigators. Moments later, he slammed into a Ford Escape driven by Maldonado.
The impact was so severe that it sent Maldonado’s car flipping over onto its roof, landing nearly 500 feet down the roadway.
Maldonado died from blunt force trauma he sustained in the crash, prosecutors said.
Afterward, Randolph was reportedly combative when officers tried arresting him, hurling profanities at the paramedics who were helping him.
He refused to submit to a blood test to determine his blood alcohol content, but officers eventually obtained a court order compelling him to do so.
According to investigators, Randolph’s blood alcohol content five hours after the crash was .20 percent, more than twice the legal limit to drive.
A search warrant was also obtained for the blood that he provided at the hospital two hours after the wreck, which showed .23 percent, nearly three times the legal limit.
Police also examined his vehicle’s event data recorder, which showed that he had been driving 137 miles per hour seconds before the collision.
At the time, Randolph had a pending criminal charge for circumvention of an ignition interlock device in Nassau County.
The devices, which can be imposed by a judge following a drunk driving conviction, connect to a vehicle’s engine and require a driver to blow into them to determine whether they’ve been drinking alcohol.
If the device detects alcohol, the vehicle won’t start.
On Feb. 15, 2023, jurors found Randolph guilty on the following counts:
- Aggravated vehicular homicide (felony)
- Manslaughter (felony)
- Second-degree vehicular manslaughter (felony)
- Aggravated driving while intoxicated (felony)
- Driving while intoxicated (felony)
- First-degree unlawful fleeing a police officer (felony)
- First-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle (felony)
- Circumvention of an ignition interlock device (misdemeanor)
- Resisting arrest (misdemeanor)
- Reckless driving (misdemeanor)
“This defendant is a serial drunk driver who had no regard for anyone’s life, including his own,” Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney said in a statement.
“The fact that he was able to be out on the street with a pending charge for not using a court mandated ignition interlock device before driving is beyond comprehensible. The entire purpose of an ignition interlock device is to keep drunk drivers off the road," he continued.
"I hope this lengthy prison sentence provides the victim’s family with some measure of justice after such a senseless and avoidable crime.”
Randolph's extensive criminal history includes six felonies, including for felony assault and attempted robbery, as well as multiple felony and misdemeanor DWI convictions.
In 2003, he was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison for felony criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds.
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