Griffin
KINGSTON – A Shandaken man, who was driving a vehicle on Route 28 in the Town of Olive on August 25, 2015, crossing into the opposite lane of traffic, striking another vehicle and killing the driver who was on her way to work, pled guilty in Ulster County Court on Wednesday to vehicular manslaughter.
Danny Griffin, 32, was driving a van at 7:30 in the morning when he struck a car driven by Delores Falkowski, 64, of Woodland Valley. She died in the crash.
Investigation by State Police and the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office revealed Griffin had used fentanyl, an opioid that is nearly 100 times stronger than morphine. He had purchased heroin laced with fentanyl in Newburgh before driving home to Shandaken.
He also had a small amount of cocaine and heroin in his van along with two crack pipes, several hypodermic instruments and a tourniquet used to assist with drug injection.
Griffin’s guilty plea came just before a pre-trial hearing in court.
