Vicious cycle
The 55-year-old woman pinned under the car of an allegedly drunken, unlicensed driver who plowed into her and other cyclists during a bike tour in Brooklyn Sunday is now in a coma, prosecutors said Monday.
The news of Nancy Pease’s devastating injuries came as Antonio Pina was arraigned on charges of vehicular assault, drunken driving and driving without a license.
Brooklyn Criminal Court Justice Joseph McCormack ordered Pina held in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Pina stood cuffed and dumbstruck as prosecutors detailed how doctors had removed Pease’s spleen and said that she had suffered traumatic brain injury and a lacerated liver among, other injuries. She remains comatose at Maimonides Medical Center, prosecutor Wilfredo Cotto said.
Pina slammed into a group of 25 to 30 cyclists taking part in the 28th Annual NYC Century Bike Tour as they stopped at a red light around 9:15 a.m., cops and witnesses said.
A Coors Light beer can was recovered in the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with Pennsylvania plates, after Pina told cops, “No, I don’t have a license and yes, I was drinking,” Cotto told the court. “I last drank alcohol around 2 a.m., I had a few margaritas,” he allegedly added.
Cotto said Pina, a construction worker living in Borough Park, blew a .287 blood-alcohol content — more than three times the legal limit — in a Breathalyzer test administered at the scene.
Witnesses told authorities Pina pulled out of a spot before barreling into the cyclists, who had stopped at the intersection of 12th Avenue and 39th Street.
After hitting them, he put the SUV in reverse and backed over Pease, according to Cotto and witnesses.
Defense attorney Leah Martin said Monday that Pina had no criminal record. If he posts bail, Pina would be barred from driving, the judge ordered.