Driver who mowed down workers gets 9 years

A Malverne woman who pleaded guilty to mowing down two construction workers with her car in Queens in 2009 while high on crack and arguing with her passenger was sentenced Friday to 9 years in prison, authorities said.

Yolanda Silvera, 29, of 84 Franklin Ave., had pleaded guilty to first-degree assault on Feb. 23 in connection with the Aug. 13, 2009, accident at Rockaway Boulevard and 150th Street in Springfield Gardens -- where Silvera barreled through a construction zone and struck Michael Hudson, 33, and Robert Keller, 32. Both men suffered serious injuries but survived.

"The defendant's decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle while impaired by drugs has forever changed her life and the lives of the two men she struck -- one of whom suffered the amputation of a leg and the other who has undergone multiple surgeries and must use a cane to walk," Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a statement.

Brown added: "Reckless behavior such as that exhibited by the defendant can neither be tolerated nor go unpunished, as evidenced by today's sentence."

Silvera was sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Steven W. Paynter. She also faces five years' post-release supervision as part of the sentence.

Silvera's attorney, Louis Meehan of East Elmhurst could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors said Silvera was driving a 2002 Nissan at 60 mph while arguing with a passenger shortly before 11 p.m. and veered into a barrier blocking a construction site, striking the men working there. Officials said the construction zone was marked with lights and brightly colored barrels.