MINEOLA, N.Y. –Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Brooklyn man was sentenced today to 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison for killing his 24-year-old passenger, Malih Takkouche. The defendant drove while intoxicated in excess of 130 mph with a revoked license and crashed into a tree near the exit ramp to the Meadowbrook State Parkway. He also drove his car without a court ordered ignition interlock device
Bilal Hassan, 25, was found guilty by a jury on June 23 of the following charges:
- Two counts of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony)
- Two counts of Vehicular Manslaughter in the 1st Degree (a C felony)
- Manslaughter in the 2nd Degree (a C felony)
- Two counts of Operating a Motor Vehicle Under the Influence of Alcohol (an E felony)
- Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the 1st Degree (an E felony)
- Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the 2nd Degree (an unclassified misdemeanor)
- Reckless Driving (an unclassified misdemeanor)
- Operating a Motor Vehicle Without an Ignition Interlock Device (an A misdemeanor)
“No family should have to go through what Malih Takkouche’s family endured over the last two years,” DA Singas said. “Malih’s sister was forced to identify his body on Thanksgiving at the Medical Examiner’s Office and the heartbreak of this crash is magnified by the fact that it could not have happened if this defendant was using the interlock device he was ordered to install as a result of his prior DWI.”
DA Singas said that on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 27, 2014 at approximately 2:30 a.m., Hassan was traveling southbound in his 2014 Infiniti Q50 when he lost control on the Meadowbrook Parkway and violently crashed into a tree near the exit for the westbound Southern State Parkway. A subsequent download of the Infiniti’s black box revealed that the vehicle had been traveling at least 133 miles per hour.
Police observed Hassan to be intoxicated at the scene. It was later determined that his blood alcohol content was .16%, two times the legal limit. Hassan’s DWI was a felony because he was convicted less than 2 months before the fatal crash for driving 100 mph on the Long Island Expressway with 3 passengers and a BAC of .14.
Despite being ordered not to drive any vehicle without an ignition interlock, the Infiniti driven by Hassan that night did not have an ignition interlock installed.
Hassan was arrested by members of the New York State Police Department.
Assistant District Attorneys Stefanie Palma and Mike Bushwack of DA Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case. Hassan was represented by Christopher Devane, Esq.