Madi Grant was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at a strip club before the crash
MINEOLA, N.Y. –Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a jury convicted an Oyster Bay man on all counts for a December 2014 crash on the Southern State Parkway in which he killed a 59-year-old Hempstead man and then left the scene and burned the car.
Madi Grant, 35, of Oyster Bay, was found guilty of:
• Manslaughter in the 2nd Degree (a C felony)
• Arson in the 3rd Degree (a C felony)
• Vehicular Manslaughter in the 2nd Degree (a D felony)
• Leaving the Scene of an Incident without Reporting (a D felony)
• Driving while in an Intoxicated Condition (an unclassified misdemeanor)
• Driving while Ability Impaired by the Combined Influence of Alcohol and Drugs (an unclassified misdemeanor)
• Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle (an unclassified misdemeanor)
• Conspiracy in the 4th Degree (an E felony)
The defendant is due back in court before Supreme Court Justice Robert McDonald on April 14 and faces up to 15 years on the Manslaughter 2nd Degree charge, up to 15 years on the Arson 3rd Degree charge and up to seven years on the Leaving the Scene charge.
“This cowardly defendant was drunk and high when he crashed into an innocent driver, Sherman Richardson, and left him to die as he fled the scene attempting to hide his crime,” DA Singas said. “Thanks to a Good Samaritan, a dogged investigation by the State Police, and excellent work by our prosecutors he will be held accountable.”
DA Singas and State Police said that on December 5, 2014, then-33-year-old Madi Grant spent several hours in a strip club in Queens where he drank alcohol and smoked marijuana before leaving at approximately 5:30 a.m. Grant drove a rental car that his friend and passenger borrowed from another individual, who is unknown to Grant and who originally rented the car.
Grant was driving the 2014 Chevrolet Captiva eastbound on the Southern State Parkway at approximately 6:30 a.m. when he accelerated the car across all three lanes of traffic from the left to the right lane and slammed into the rear of the car driven by 59-year-old ironworker Sherman Richardson of Hempstead, who was on his way to work. The impact caused Richardson's car to veer off of the Parkway, where it slammed into a tree on the side of the road and Richardson was killed immediately.
Grant then accelerated and took Exit 32 on the Parkway, with a Good Samaritan following behind him, flashing his headlights and honking his horn. Another Good Samaritan who was traveling eastbound on the Parkway stopped to render aid to Richardson. As Grant fled the scene, he traveled through several red lights and stop signs, while making a series of rapid turns through the side streets of Amityville. The Good Samaritan in pursuit soon lost Grant, but notified 911 with a description of the defendant’s car and returned to the scene of the crash.
Later that day, Grant hired someone to light the Captiva on fire in order to destroy evidence. At approximately 4:00 p.m. the car was found near the location of the chase engulfed in flames accelerated by gasoline.
Assistant District Attorneys Stefanie Palma and Diana Hedayati of Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case. Grant is represented by Donald Rollock, Esq.