A Valley Stream woman has admitted her guilt in a drunken wrong-way crash that seriously injured two teenagers in Hempstead, bringing a measure of accountability to a case that upended young lives. The guilty plea sets the stage for a prison sentence and closes one chapter of a case that began with a reckless decision behind the wheel.
Prosecutors identified the driver as 26-year-old Kelyse Land. According to authorities, Land was more than twice the legal limit for alcohol at the time of the crash, and she was also under the influence of marijuana. That combination, prosecutors say, left her badly impaired as she got behind the wheel and drove out onto the road.
The crash itself came as Land drove the wrong way down Hempstead Avenue. Authorities say she slammed into a car that was stopped at a red light, striking a vehicle whose occupants had done nothing more than wait for the signal to change. In an instant, an ordinary moment at an intersection turned into a violent collision.
Inside the vehicle that was hit were two teenagers, and both were hurt in the wreck. Prosecutors say one of the young victims was left with permanent damage to a wrist, an injury that will follow them well beyond the crash, along with other injuries suffered in the impact of the wrong-way collision last July.
The case has now moved through the courts to a resolution, with Land entering a guilty plea to the charges she faced in connection with the crash. The plea spares the case a trial and represents an acknowledgment of responsibility for driving while heavily impaired and causing the injuries to the two teenagers on the road that night.
With the plea entered, attention turns to sentencing. Prosecutors say Land faces two to six years in prison when she is sentenced in September. The outcome stands as a warning about the dangers of driving drunk and high, and about the lasting harm a wrong-way crash can inflict on innocent people simply stopped at a red light.