DWI charge in fatal East Rockaway crash

A Lynbrook woman is accused of driving drunk and killing a man in a crash early yesterday in East Rockaway, police said.

Patricia E. Bregel, 33, was arraigned yesterday at First District Court in Hempstead on charges of vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving, police said.

She intends to post the $300,000 bond, said defense attorney Salvatore J. Marinello of Mineola.

Bregel was driving north on Atlantic Avenue when she crashed her 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe into a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu driven south by Timothy J. Motherway, who was making a left turn into the parking lot of his apartment building, police said.

Marinello said Bregel appears to have had the right of way, though an investigation will determine whether other factors were involved.

Motherway, 35, was declared dead at the hospital at 2:47 a.m., about two hours after the crash.

Bregel, of 24 Tredwell Ave., was admitted to the same hospital to check for internal injuries, police said.

Marinello said the results of blood tests to determine whether Bregel was intoxicated are pending. Her arrest was based on initial police observations, he said.

He said Bregel had been returning home from a friend's home when the crash occurred.

Marinello said publicity surrounding the recent car-crash death of Suffolk Police Officer Glen Ciano at the hands of a driver suspected of being drunk could influence whether Bregel faces more serious charges from the district attorney's office of depraved indifference murder in Motherway's death.

He said he's worried "the frenzy will control what the DA does in the case, as opposed to being reasonable and taking their time to sufficiently analyze the facts."

A spokesman for the DA said: "Nothing will influence our prosecution of this case."