Drunk Driver Crashes and Kills Two Passengers

A drunk driver lost control of his vehicle on Saturday, January 10, 2009 on the Belt Parkway. He proceeded to hit the median, and killed two women in the back seat of his car. According to the police, Oleg Pantchenko, 29, had a blood-alcohol level of .09 percent, which is just over the legal limit.

Mr. Pantchenko was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and DWI. According to the New York Post, Pantchenko was speeding east on the highway near Bay Ridge at 3:30 a.m. when his car struck a guardrail, careened across several lanes of traffic and hit the median, flinging the women onto the roadway.

The two women were identified as Olga Bays and Oksana Torchigin. A friend of Torchigin, Elena Kobzar, said the group was returning from a birthday party and that Pantchenko had offered her a ride home. New York auto accident lawyers are saddened by the tragic accident that could have been prevented.