By Patrick Markey
Anne Lamberson, the Derry-born ambulance driver facing manslaughter charges in the deaths last year of three Brooklyn children killed in a car crash, will appear in court this week as a judge decides on a motion to dismiss the case against her.
Last December, Lamberson’s attorney, Michael Dowd, filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Lamberson on the grounds of legal insufficiency. A Brooklyn State Supreme Court judge is scheduled to rule on that motion on Thursday.
Lamberson was indicted on second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in October after the private ambulance she was driving crashed into the car of Angela Igwe at a King’s Highway intersection in Brooklyn. Three of Igwe’s children, ages 7, 5, and 2, died in the crash. Igwe and another of her children were seriously injured.
Although initially there was a dispute over whether Lamberson was on a priority call when her ambulance went through a red light and smashed into Igwe’s car, prosecutors later conceded that she was called to an emergency when the accident occurred.
Emergency vehicles are allowed to pass through red lights and stop signs on priority calls, but only if they exercise proper caution. Deputy District Attorney Joseph Petrosino, who is prosecuting the case, said Lamberson had still acted in a reckless enough manner for the charges to stand.
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Lawyers for the Igwe family are also examining the possibility of filing a civil case over the incident.