Officials: Driver in fatal crash was drunk

A driver in a two-car fatal crash in Brookhaven in December was arraigned Wednesday on manslaughter charges following a six-count Suffolk grand jury indictment that said the operator was driving while intoxicated, officials said.

Steven Tolar, 53, of Shirley, who pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court, Riverhead, was ordered held on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash bail.

Tolar, while driving a 2002 Lincoln Navigator, crossed a yellow dividing line on Montauk Highway, police said, just east of Old South Country Road in Brookhaven on Dec. 17. Tolar's car then struck a van driven by Scott Albrecht, 43, of Patchogue who was heading home from work, police said. Albrecht, the married father of three, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Robert Clifford, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, said that blood alcohol tests indicated that Tolar had a blood alcohol level of 0.11 percent. A level greater than 0.08 is legally intoxicated, Clifford said.

Tolar's attorney, Christopher Brocato of Central Islip, said his office is still looking into whether the manslaughter charge is appropriate in this case. "We're early in the process of investigation," Brocato said. "Certainly it's a tragedy. He's incarcerated and this gentleman lost his life."

During the past 22 years, Tolar has pleaded guilty to a variety of misdemeanors, including operating a motor vehicle without a license, attempted petty larceny, tampering with a witness and criminal possession of a controlled substance, along with a felony charge of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, according to state records.