Woman sentenced in fatal DWI crash

A Suffolk judge scolded a Lindenhurst woman he sentenced in a fatal drunken driving crash Tuesday, saying he was "tired of people who take life for granted."

Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow said he's seen the same story unfold: One young person kills another while driving drunk, plunging two families into despair.

"I have too many of these cases," said Braslow, as he sentenced Angela Commisso to 3 1/2 to 10 1/2 years in prison. "I'm tired of it."

Commisso, 23, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and other charges for a June 2010 crash that killed her friend, Jenny Daprino, 23, of Deer Park.

Commisso's license had been suspended after a previous DWI conviction when she took a relative's Lincoln and headed to Gilgo Beach at high speed with Daprino after drinking beer and wine, prosecutors said.

As she was led into the courtroom, her father, Nick Commisso, shouted, "I love you, Angela," leading to his immediate eviction by court officers.

Daprino's older sister, Donna McBride, criticized Commisso for refusing to take responsibility for the crash for so long, even failing to tell officers at the scene who the person was who lay dying in the car. She said a third person was driving, forcing detectives to search for a man who didn't exist.

Her attorney, Christopher Brocato, said later that she had a head injury from the crash and may not have realized then that she had been driving.

Commisso, given the chance to speak, looked at Daprino's family, doubled over and sobbed. "I'm so sorry," she said.

Braslow admonished her before imposing the sentence, noting that she's avoided dealing with drug and alcohol problems since she was 15 years old.

"You never took responsibility for your problems," he told her, as she stood before him nodding, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You put the blame for everything on everyone else. Your actions are reprehensible."

Outside court, Commisso's parents said their daughter is deeply sorry, and so are they.

"I hope she gets help [in prison] away from all the enablers," said her mother, Sally Commisso. "My heart goes out to Jenny's family. This was a horrendous tragedy."

She said she tried to get help for her troubled daughter from the schools and then from the courts, but she got none.