Jinaraya Khan, of Baldwin, sentenced in drunken driving crash that killed Scott Freeman
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said Jinaraya Khan was driving 96 mph with a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit when she hit Scott Freeman's car. Credit: Johnny Milano
A Baldwin woman has been sentenced to 6 to 18 years in prison for a 2022 high-speed drunken driving crash that killed another driver on Grand Avenue, authorities said.
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office said Jinaraya Khan, 33, was driving 96 mph in a 35 mph zone with a blood alcohol content of 0.25% — more than three times the legal limit of 0.08% — when she crashed into a car driven by Scott Freeman, 66, of Baldwin, at 5:16 a.m. on May 3, 2022. Freeman died at the scene.
Khan pleaded guilty on Dec. 18 to aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree assault and aggravated driving while intoxicated. She was sentenced Wednesday before Judge Robert Bogle. The district attorney's office had recommended a sentence of 7 to 21 years.
Authorities said Freeman, driving a 2011 Toyota Corolla, was attempting to make a left turn onto Grand Avenue not far from his home when his car was struck by the 2020 BMW X3 driven by Khan — who authorities said was speeding north on Grand Avenue.
Authorities said Khan said she had consumed two mimosas and was late to work for her job at Kennedy Airport. Freeman worked at a local printing company and planned to retire within a year.
"Scott Freeman was a hard-working and kind man who had dreams of retiring to the south in a year's time," Nassau District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement. "Those dreams came to a tragic end when just down the street from his home in Baldwin, Jinaraya Khan struck his vehicle at 96 miles an hour and killed him as he drove to work. The defendant was so intoxicated that she remained more than three times the legal limit for alcohol 40 minutes after the crash. Drunk driving destroys lives. It cost Scott Freeman his life and the defendant her freedom."
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
