Driver pleads guilty to killing man as he drunkenly left Woodbury diner – NBC New York

A Long Island man pleaded guilty to hitting and killing a man after he drove away drunk from a Long Island diner in 2023, the district attorney said.

Willem Specht pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular manslaughter, assault and aggravated drunken driving in connection with the January 2023 incident that left 61-year-old Joseph Devito dead, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Monday.

The charges relate to the fatal crash at the On Parade Diner on Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury on the afternoon of Jan. 18, 2023, Donnelly said. Specht was going to get soup, but as he was backing up, his car accelerated sharply.

Devito was standing on the sidewalk talking with a high school friend when Specht got into his gray 2004 Infinity sedan and backed straight toward her, prosecutors said. Devito suffered serious injuries and was taken to Syosset Hospital, where he died shortly thereafter. Specht narrowly avoided hitting Devito's friend as well.

After hitting Devito, Specht continued to back up and drove over another sidewalk. He then hit a ramp and metal railing leading into the bar and finally hit the outside wall of the bar itself, Donnelly said. He then drove forward a little further and stopped in a parking lot at the bar.

Specht then got out and stayed in the parking lot, but tried to leave some time later but was stopped by a witness. He was arrested shortly afterwards.

The criminal complaint states that Specht's speech was slurred and his eyes were red and shiny after the accident, and that his blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit. More than three hours after the incident, the reading was 0.18, which is still more than twice the legal limit.

According to the document, Specht told police that his vehicle accelerated sharply on its own.

“Willem Specht, a recidivist drunk driver with two prior convictions, had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood when he struck and killed Joseph Devito, who was standing outside the On Parade Diner saying goodbye to his lifelong friend,” Donnelly said. “Joseph was a husband, a father, a grandfather and a friend to many. His family has suffered immeasurable grief because of this defendant's reckless and entirely preventable actions.”

Specht, 63, of Wantagh, is scheduled to be sentenced to seven to 15 years in prison on Sept. 25. Information about Specht's attorney was not immediately clear.