Ethel Edwards pleads guilty to high-speed, drug-fueled crash that critically injured Jose Pineda

A New Cassel woman whose high-speed crash into two vehicles critically injured a motorist pleaded guilty Friday to assault, vehicular assault, driving while on drugs and other charges, the Nassau District Attorney's office said.

Ethel Edwards, 44, is expected to get a 10-year prison sentence after running a red light April 22 in Westbury and slamming at 65 mph into a delivery van full of bottled water and beverages, prosecutors said.

It took an hour to free the van driver, Jose Pineda, 45, from the wreckage, authorities said. He sustained several traumatic injuries, including breaks to his legs and hip, leaving him unable to walk for two months, prosecutors said. He continues to receive treatment, they said.

Edwards pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving and driving while under the influence of drugs. In an unrelated case from March, she also pleaded guilty fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Her attorney, Jeff Groder of Mineola, said his client has a longtime cocaine problem and he was trying to get her into a court drug diversion on the March drug charges when she crashed in Westbury.

Edwards cried the "entire time" during the guilty plea in court Friday, not because she'll be in prison but because her actions had injured someone, the attorney said.

"She was incredibly remorseful," Groder said. "All she could talk about was what she did to this poor man. She feels terrible, but unfortunately, her life has been dominated by drugs and this is the end result."

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The crash sent Pineda's van airborne and through the intersection of Brush Hollow Road and Hillcrest Drive, where the vehicle then hit a light pole, which cut so far into the van that Pineda's face was resting against it after the impact, prosecutors said.

Edwards' Corolla then struck a parked car, pushing it 10 to 15 feet, but she remained uninjured, authorities said.

"The defendant's depraved, out-of-control actions on a weekday morning could easily have killed Mr. Pineda or anyone else who happened to be driving or walking along Brush Hollow Road that day," District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement.