Wantagh man gets 'break' in sentencing for fatal crash, judge says

A judge said a motorist got “the break of the century” Monday when she gave him five years of probation and a year in jail for a 2019 crash that killed a Freeport man and a subsequent drunken-driving arrest.

Nassau Supervising Judge Teresa Corrigan also said Brett Belferder’s plea deal was based on her “true concern” there might not be enough evidence to convict him for the deadly Meadowbrook State Parkway encounter.

The judge told the fiancee of 39-year-old crash victim Michael Patterson a trial would have turned into a “battle of experts” and his loved ones “deserved more than a fifty-fifty shot” at a conviction.

“He has gotten the break of the century from this court,” Corrigan added of Belferder, warning she would give him 5 to 15 years in prison if he stepped “out of line” during probation.

“You and I will be here the next five years to watch and see,” Corrigan also told the fiancee, Sharon McIntyre.

Last month Belferder, 37, of Wantagh, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Patterson on Jan. 24, 2019.

Belferder also admitted driving drunk and without a license after an arrest nearly two years later as his manslaughter case was pending.

“I carry that accident with me every day, every moment,” he said in court Monday, adding that he was “deeply sorry.”

But McIntyre, 53, of Freeport, told the judge Belferder’s sentence was “disappointing.”

She added that while she thought he would end up back in court, she hoped instead he would develop “respect for life and the law.”

McIntyre said Patterson had been a generous, kind and family-oriented man who could make her laugh until she “couldn’t breathe.” The Hofstra graduate was in the bakery business and took part in a BMW racing club and CrossFit training, she said.

Prosecutor Tara DePalo asked for 2⅓ to 7 years in prison for Belferder for the crash and a consecutive 1⅓ to 4 years behind bars for his other arrest — when she said he “chose once again to drive under the influence.”

Belferder’s attorney, Marc Gann, said in court that while there was no excuse for his client’s second arrest, the defense disputed that Belferder was intoxicated during the fatal crash.

Prosecutors alleged Belferder recklessly caused Patterson's death and was driving under the influence of marijuana and Xanax. But the defense claimed Belferder’s vehicle hydroplaned amid a rainstorm and he lost control and hit Patterson.

Gann also said there was a dispute about whether the marijuana in Belferder’s system had caused him to be high at the time of the crash, and said his client had been prescribed Xanax for years.

The crash happened at 11:54 a.m. by the parkway’s northbound Exit M2 in Westbury.

Authorities said Patterson’s Volvo broke down on the exit ramp before he walked toward a state trooper’s car and a Nassau County police car that were on the nearby shoulder because of a prior crash.

They said Belferder’s Subaru Outback hit Patterson and threw him into the back of the occupied trooper’s car before the Subaru continued up the embankment and hit the then-empty Nassau police car.