A travesty

Family of slain highway worker 'saddened' by drunk driver's easy sentence

By CHRISTINA CARREG

Loved ones of a highway worker who was killed by a drunk and unlicensed driver on the Grand Central Parkway last summer said they were “saddened” by his assailant’s lenient sentence.

"This is still fresh to me," said Israel Rosario, who witnessed Abdullah Munshi slam a 2002 Audi A6 into his 63-year-old co-worker, Frank Avino as they were setting up traffic cones near the Jewel Avenue exit of the highway on July 10.

"We were preparing to repair the lights on the highway, the car passed me first and hit Frank. I heard a very short shriek and Frank was gone," said an emotional Rosario as a fellow co-worker consoled him outside of Queens Criminal court.

Munshi, 26, dodged up to 15 years in prison when he plead guilty to second-degree vehicular manslaughter -- a non-violent felony -- and will be sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison on March 12, said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.

"I understand vehicular manslaughter is a non-violent crime and we need to change that. My husband was killed...it is saddens me," said Avino's heartbroken wife, Patricia.

"It's hard for me to hear a kid before [Munshi's] case was called get threatened to be put into jail for 1 1/2 to 3 years for a marijuana charge and he didn't kill anyone, yet this guy gets almost the same amount time, its not fair," said Rosario, who worked with Avino, an electrician for Welsbach Electric Corp for seven years.

Patricia is hoping to work with the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) in order to help with "changing the laws" when intoxicated drivers are charged.

Munshi, a citizen of Qatar, admitted to prosecutor, John Kosinski, that he drank alcohol before he got into the car with his friends and also "purchased beer" at a corner store before the 11 a.m. crash.

The reckless driver was unable to produce a valid NYS driver's license and also admitted that he was driving a "friend's car" because "they were too drunk to drive," said Brown.

At the scene, Munshi's blood alcohol content read .21 percent -- well above the legal limit of .08 percent in New York.

Following Munshi's release from prison he is ordered to a three-year conditional discharge and install an ignition interlock into any car he owns for five years -- at his own expense.

Munshi also faces deportation.