Ambulance driver seeks dismissal

By Harry Keaney

A motion was filed Tuesday to have indictments dismissed against the Derry-born ambulance driver, 34-year-old Anne Lamberson, whose emergency vehicle plowed into a car and killed three in Brooklyn in September.

Lamberson was indicted on manslaughter and reckless homicide charges after the private ambulance she was driving sped through a red light and crashed into a car driven by Nigerian immigrant Angela Igwe. Three of Igwe’s children, ages 7, 5 and 2, were killed in the crash. Igwe and her daughter Ibironke were critically injured.

While prosecutors and the defence have labeled the accident a tragedy, a dispute continues over whether Lamberson was on an emergency call when she collided with Igwe’s car on King’s Highway on Sept. 30.

Lamberson’s attorney, Michael Dowd, told the Echo Tuesday that he had filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against his client on several grounds.

"We believe the grand jury was not properly instructed on the law," he said, adding that it was never advised that the vehicle driven by Igwe was required by law to give way to an emergency vehicle.

In addition, Dowd said the grand jury was never advised that the children who died were not in child seats nor were wearing seat belts, or that the driver was not properly licensed.

Dowd said this raised a "grave question" about what caused these children’s deaths and "we are seeking dismissal," Dowd said.

He said the response to his motion would probably be known by Jan. 28.