Driver pleads not guilty in Long Beach road-rage fatality
Evan Potts leaves Judge Grella's courtroom after being arraigned for a road-rage incident. (June 22. 2010) Credit: Howard Schnapp
The college student accused of running down a Long Beach man last year in a road-rage incident pleaded not guilty Tuesday to manslaughter charges and an additional charge of criminally negligent homicide.
In a courtroom packed with supporters from both sides, Evan Potts, 23, of Oceanside, stood quietly and responded to acting State Supreme Court Justice Philip Grella's questions.
Potts, a Queens College student, has been free on $500,000 bond since his arrest after the May 15, 2009, incident. A grand jury handed up the indictment with the additional charge of criminally negligent homicide on June 10.
Police said Potts and Ian Sharinn got into a verbal argument as they drove on May 15 in Long Beach. After Sharinn got out of his car, Potts called 911 and tried to reverse his car to flee, police said. Potts then accelerated forward, running over Sharinn, police said.
After the arraignment, Potts' lawyer, Stanley Kopilow of Garden City, questioned the passage of 13 months before the grand jury action and said the Nassau County district attorney's office has "lost their moral compass" in prosecuting the case.
"They just refuse to understand that what happened there was a person who was running for their life when confronted with a person who was a raving lunatic, and who was acting like a raving lunatic, and chased him down," Kopilow said.
"Ian Sharinn had a problem. He was a person who couldn't control his rage, and I don't know why."
Sharinn's sister-in-law, Deborah Sharinn, read a statement after the arraignment, calling for upgraded charges and justice.
"Evan Potts can hide behind the lies of counsel, but he knows the truth about what happened that day and now so do we and soon enough the public will know too," she said. "We believe that there is sufficient evidence to support higher charges than those brought by the district attorney. Evan Potts intentionally and brutally killed Ian Sharinn on May 15, 2009, and the public would be well-served by putting this vicious killer in jail."
In response, Carole Trottere, a spokeswoman for the Nassau district attorney's office, said: "This office presented all of the evidence in the case in a complete and fair manner to an independent grand jury. The grand jury reached a decision as to the charges."
Potts is due back in court July 14.
