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Hit-and-runs spur renewed push to pass Alix's Law

Posted at 5:24 PM, Jul 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-17 17:24:55-04

Sunday's fatal hit and run on Broadway has local officials saying enough is enough.

“I don't understand why these people are leaving the scenes of these accidents. And maybe this Alix's Law will change that,” said Erie County District Attorney, John Flynn.

Alix's Law was drafted shortly after 18-year-old Alix Rice was killed during a hit and run in Amherst in 2011. She was hit by Doctor James Corasanti. Corasanti claimed he didn't know he hit a person. He was convicted of D.W.I. but acquitted of manslaughter and felony leaving the scene of an accident.  He served less than a year in jail.

“It leaves open the possibility that one can use intoxication as the reason to not know that they were involved in an accident,” said N.Y.S. Senator Patrick Gallivan. Gallivan said Alix's Law would close that loophole. Gallivan sponsors the bill. It has now passed the Senate six times. But it has stalled in the state Assembly for years and never come to the floor for a vote. “I don't know why it hasn't passed in the Assembly, yet. It has had several different sponsors. Most recently, Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes. Maybe the multiple sponsors has delayed it.”

According to Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, it remains in the Transportation Committee because committee Counsel said the law already covers what Alix’s Law intends to change.

As for the recent string of hit and runs in Buffalo, Flynn says video surveillance shows witnesses in several instances, including the July 4th crash on Loring Avenue. So, if you have information or if you may have seen what happened, prosecutors are pleading with you to come forward.