Man who caused fatal crash in ’14 is denied parole
A man who pleaded guilty in a September 2014 drunkendriving crash that took the life of a Cottekill woman will spend at least another two years behind bars.
Tyler J. Grable, 25, of Cottekill, was denied parole last week following his first interview with the parole board, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said Wednesday.
Grable was sentenced on July 23, 2015, by state Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott to two to six years in state prison for the felonies of second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault. Grable pleaded guilty to those charges in May 2015.
On Sept. 26, 2014, after admittedly spending most of the day drinking and smoking pot, Grable sped through a four-way stop at the intersection of Lucas Avenue and Cottekill Road in Rosendale in a 1999 Subaru Legacy, striking a 2006 Jeep Liberty driven by Kelly Utter, 50.
Utter died in the crash. Her son, Joseph, who was 19 at the time, was a frontseat passenger in the vehicle and was seriously injured.
Utter was the executive secretary for the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency at the time of her death.
Grable had a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent, almost twice the legal limit, and was driving between 58 and 67 mph, police said at the time.
At his sentencing, Grable spoke directly to Utter’s relatives, saying he was “deeply sorry for being responsible” for the crash.
He said he made a “conscious decision” to use alcohol and marijuana and, after a full day of drinking and drugging, decided to drive despite the fact, he said, that he was “intoxicated to the point where he had no business being behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle.”
“I need to be held responsible for my actions,” he said.
Grable was interviewed by the parole board on March 28; his next appearance before the board is scheduled for March 2019.
In a report provided by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, parole board member Tina Stanford wrote, “At this time, there is a reasonable probability that you (Grable) would not live and remain at liberty without violating the law and that your release would be incompatible with the welfare of society.”
Stanford nonetheless commended Grable’s “insight, remorse and efforts to maintain abstinence and make healthier, more positive and law-abiding choices” while imprisoned at the Wallkill Correctional Facility in Ulster County.
In addition to sentencing Grable to prison time, Mott ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine and, after he’s released, have a special interlock device installed in his vehicle that will prevent him from starting the vehicle if alcohol is detected on his breath.