NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An ex-FDNY firefighter has been jailed after new evidence was unsealed in an indictment charging him in a drunk driving and speeding crash that killed a LaGuardia Airport baggage handler in February.
Emotional family members and friends of victim Justin Diaz, 23, applauded at Queens Criminal Court as court officers placed handcuffs on Michael Pena.
Pena, 28, had been out on bail but now faces a 14-count indictment charging him with second-degree manslaughter and other crimes, including DWI.
Outside the courthouse following the hearing, Diaz’s brother Franklin Diaz thanked the Queens D.A.'s Office, which presented new evidence of Pena's multiple arrests and 25 speed camera violations.
“He’s a dangerous person who should never have been on these streets,” Diaz said. “And his acts that night that killed my brother were the worst that could possibly happen.”
“Justin had a future that was stolen, that was snatched by Michael Pena,” Diaz’s father, Franklin Diaz, told reporters.
Prosecutors said Diaz was driving to his job at LaGuardia on the evening of Feb. 26 when Pena—allegedly drunk, high and going 83 mph in a 25 mph zone—slammed into his car at the intersection of 107th Street and Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst.
The unsealed indictment alleges Pena had been bar-hopping for hours before the crash and had alcohol, cocaine and cannabis in his system. A breath test showed his blood alcohol content was .156%, well above the legal limit of .08%, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Marvyn Kornberg had sought to keep Pena out on bail.
“He’s not a flight risk,” Kornberg said. “If he wanted to run, he should have run last week. He didn't run. He came to court today.”
Pena, a probationary firefighter who was off-duty at the time of the crash, was fired by the FDNY in March. He faces a potential maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison if convicted.