Driver in crash that killed mother, injured boy on Meadowbrook Parkway sentenced to 6 to 18 years in prison

A Freeport woman who drove an estimated 100 mph on the Meadowbrook Parkway while drunk and high last year, before causing a crash that killed a mother and injured a young boy, was sentenced Wednesday to 6 to 18 years in prison.

Nicole Pollock, 28, pleaded guilty in June to aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter and driving while impaired by alcohol and a drug.

"Nicole Pollock drove her car dangerously fast while she was extremely intoxicated by alcohol and marijuana and inevitably crashed into innocent victims, destroying a family," said Acting Nassau District Attorney Joyce Smith. "Nicole Pollock killed 39-year-old mother Lissette Quintanilla in front of her 8-year-old son, who was both traumatized and physically injured. Reckless and impaired drivers cannot be tolerated on our roadways because innocent families like the Quintanillas pay the price."

Dennis Lemke, Pollock's Mineola-based defense attorney, called the case a "horrific tragedy" that has devastated two families.

"It's something that hopefully she'll learn from," Lemke said. "Nicole is going to be doing all that she can to get her message out to the community and to society not to drink and drive. You hear it all the time but you don't always see a face behind it."

Quintanilla was a certified nursing assistant who worked at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island. She died the day before her second wedding anniversary — a day she had planned to spend getting license plates for the GMC Terrain her husband bought her as a celebratory gift.

Pollock was driving a 2012 Nissan Rogue about 100 mph on the parkway's northbound side near Exit M7 when it hit the back of Quintanilla’s 2006 Kia, prosecutors said. State Police said the Kia crossed three lanes before going up on the road's shoulder and hitting a tree.

Authorities said Pollock was driving under the influence of THC, the major psychoactive biochemical found in marijuana, and with a 0.18% blood alcohol content — more than double the 0.08% legal threshold for intoxication — when she caused the wreck.

Quintanilla died in the collision and her youngest child, Brandon Guzman, now 10, needed screws implanted in his broken left elbow after surviving the wreck.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.