Port Jervis man sentenced for DWI-related child fatality

On Friday, December 20, Yeraldo Roa, 36, of Port Jervis was sentenced in Orange County Court to two and one-third to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced. As part of his guilty plea, Roa admitted that he was intoxicated when he caused the death of an 11-year-old girl, who had been a passenger in Roa’s vehicle.

According to Hoovler’s announcement, Roa admitted that on September 23, 2023, at about 8:30 p.m., he had a blood alcohol content of .20 per centum by weight of alcohol, more than twice the concentration, and then drove his car across the double-yellow lines on Route 6, in the town of Woodbury, hitting three oncoming vehicles before crashing head-on into a fourth vehicle. Roa and his 11-year-old passenger were transported to Garnet Health Medical Center, where the girl was pronounced dead. Occupants of the other vehicles were treated for injuries at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Hoovler thanked the New York State Police for their investigation and the arrest of Roa. He also thanked the Collison Reconstruction Unit of the New York State Police for their assistance, and Woodbury EMS and Hatzolah Ambulance Corp. for the treatment and transport of the victims.

“Intoxicated driving deaths are as senseless as they are preventable,” said Hoovler. “While this defendant no doubt did not intend to kill his young passenger, he nonetheless made a conscious decision to drive knowing that he was severely intoxicated and knowing that it would put the lives of people he knew, and the lives of people he didn’t know, at risk. Unfortunately, that consequential decision resulted in cutting far too short the life of the faultless victim. Intoxicated driving is never okay, and we will continue to pursue those who choose to get behind the wheel of a vehicle in such a condition.”

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mangold.