DWI suspect indicted in hit-and-run death
A Redwood man has been indicted on charges alleging he was driving drunk when his vehicle struck and killed a town of Alexandria man in an August hit-and-run accident.
Brian C. Farmer,45, of 46711 County Route 111, faces charges of second-degree vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving serious personal injury or death and driving while intoxicated.
The charges were contained in a grand jury indictment handed up Wednesday in Jefferson County Court.
It is alleged he was driving drunk Aug. 4 on County Route 192 in the town of Alexandria when his vehicle struck Jay S. Peterson Jr., 21. Sheriff John P. Burns said in August that the accident was reported by two girls who heard what sounded like a car door shutting and, when they looked out, saw the victim lying in the road.
Mr. Peterson, a 2005 graduate of Indian River Central School, was taken to River Hospital, Alexandria Bay, where he was pronounced dead.
Mr. Farmer is a two-time convicted felon, having pleaded guilty in 1997 to selling heroin to an undercover police officer. He was sentenced in Jefferson County Court in that case to 11/2 to 41/2 years in state prison. He also pleaded guilty to possession of 162 bags of heroin in 2000 and was sentenced in County Court to 3 to 6 years in state prison as a second-felony offender.
Others facing indictments handed up Wednesday include:
Harold E. Pearson Jr.,32, Watertown, faces counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
It is alleged that on Dec. 12, he created grave risk of death to Watertown City Police Officer Patrick C. Rawson by nearly causing the officer to fall down a fourth-floor elevator shaft at the Solar Building, 206 Franklin St.
Officer Rawson was investigating an domestic incident when Mr. Pearson allegedly struck him and pushed him in the chest with his shoulder as the officer was near a railing separating a hallway from the open elevator shaft. The officer lost his balance, fell against the railing and nearly fell down the shaft, the indictment said.
Mr. Pearson is also charged with assault for allegedly striking Mary L. Baslow about the head during the dispute, causing bruising to her face. He is charged with disorderly conduct for standing in the hallway at the Solar Building and repeatedly screaming obscenities, according to the indictment.
The grand jury did issue a no-bill, clearing Mr. Pearson of a grand larceny charge. He had been accused in November of removing aluminum siding from a trailer in which he was living on Wilton Road in the town of Rutland, and of selling it for scrap.
Patrick Morand,36, andAline Geoffroy,45, both of Shawinigan, Quebec, both face charges of third-, fourth- and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana. They are accused of possessing quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana at U.S. Customs on Wellesley Island on Aug. 21.
Noel S. Wilson,20, Bronx, faces counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree criminal impersonation and unlawful possession of marijuana. It is alleged he possessed heroin and marijuana Dec. 12 in Watertown.
At the time of his arrest, he allegedly gave police a false name and date of birth because he knew he was the subject of warrant out of New York City charging him with first-degree bail jumping and two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Sharon A. McGivney,56, Henderson, is charged with felony driving while intoxicated, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, making an unsafe lane change and operating an uninspected motor vehicle. She was charged with driving drunk and without a license Aug. 16 on Route 3 in the town of Henderson.
The grand jury also returned one sealed indictment.
