February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
The Derry-born ambulance driver charged with vehicular manslaughter in the death of three young children appeared at Brooklyn State Supreme Court Tuesday as a judge set May 21 for the start of her trial.
Anne Lamberson, who is 34, is accused of driving her emergency vehicle recklessly and smashing into a family car killing three children in September. The children’s mother, Angela Igwe, and her other daughter were seriously injured in the crash.
Lamberson was formally indicted in December on charges of manslaughter and reckless homicide. Michael Dowd, Lamberson’s attorney, said the defense team is now waiting to examine evidence from the prosecution’s expert in accident reconstruction.
The incident sparked controversy after New York City’s police commissioner, Howard Safir, charged that Lamberson was not on an emergency run when her vehicle passed through a red light. While prosecutors now say that Lamberson was on a priority call, they believe she acted recklessly enough to warrant the manslaughter charges.
Lamberson was born in Northern Ireland, but her parents immigrated to America when she was a small child. Nobel prize winner John Hume, who lives near Lamberson’s family in Derry, has expressed his concern over the serious charges and a representative from the Irish consulate has accompanied Lamberson on her court appearances.
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