Handcuffed and speaking in halting sentences to two men forced to sit Monday morning in state Superior Court in Norwalk because of injuries they’d sustained in a car crash she caused nearly two years ago, a New Canaan woman in court custody apologized and said she never meant to hurt anyone.
One motor vehicle involved in the 4-car accident on Silvermine Road in New Canaan on the evening of Oct. 30, 2014.
During her sentencing on a misdemeanor reckless driving charge that followed the October 2014 crash on Silvermine Road and a subsequent, separate drunk driving charge at Saxe Middle School pickup, the woman, 52, told Michael Bivona and Darryl Shaw that she was “so sorry for everything.”
“I pray for you every day,” the woman, wearing a purple blouse, back pants and sneakers, told the men.
A vehicle involved in the 4-car accident on Silvermine Road in New Canaan on Oct. 30, 2014.
She added: “I do not want you to think that you are not on my mind.”
Under a plea deal worked out between her attorney, John Robert Gulash of Bridgeport-based Gulash & Associates, and the office of assistant state’s attorney Nadia Prinz, she pleaded no contest and was fined the maximum $300 for the reckless driving charge and an additional $500 plus court costs and sentenced to six months, suspended after 48 hours. The formal ‘nolo contendere’ plea means that she accepts a conviction though she does not admit guilt.
The front driver’s side of Michael Bivona Jr.’s Subaru, pictured here, was struck Oct. 30, 2014 by a BMW whose operator said he was traveling eastbound on Silvermine Road at the 30 mph speed limit when a car struck him from behind—a vehicle operated by a (then) 50-year-old New Canaan woman—sending him careening into Bivona. Here is Bivona’s car after the crash, at New Canaan’s DPW highway shed. Contributed
Judge Alex Hernandez said she also would have to make any “verifiable restitution” following the accident she caused, undergo substance abuse counseling, attend four MADD victim impact panels over the two-year period and may need to use an interlock safety device with her car, pending a DMV decision.
Gulash called the sentencing “the result of very extensive discussions” with prosecutors, and said it represents a fair mix of “punishment, treatment and safeguards” for the woman in the future.
She still faces a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Bivona, a Stamford resident who suffered near-fatal injuries after the head-on crash, and that suit now also includes claims from Shaw, whom she had rear-ended while speeding down Silvermine Road just after 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2014, causing the crash. A fourth motorist, a woman driving eastbound behind Bivona when the crash occurred just beyond Little Brook Road, was not seriously hurt.Police on scene had determined that she was intoxicated and the civil suit, filed by attorney John M. Parese of New Haven-based Buckley & Wynne, makes the same claim. (Hospital officials apparently failed to test her blood for drugs, and the state’s attorney’s office declined to bring the more serious charge, according to an arrest warrant application and police affidavits obtained by NewCanaanite.com.)
Bivona, a teenager at the time of the crash, likely would have died if not for New Canaan’s emergency responders, officials have said. His traumatic injuries are extensive and lasting.
During an emotional statement read on his behalf by Parese, Bivona said that his “life changed forever” that day.
“'[She] made a decision to drive that day with reckless disregard for the safety of everyone on the road,” the statement said. “More specifically, and in accordance with the Event Data Recorder information secured by the police, she pressed her accelerator pedal 99 percent, came to a speed of 64 mph in a 30 mph zone, and never applied her brakes once, not even when she crashed into another vehicle or caused her vehicle to go airborne. At the scene [she] admitted to consuming alcohol prior to the crash, failed all field sobriety tests and claimed to be taking medications for alcohol cravings. As you know, she was later arrested for DUI while attempting to pick up her child at school while intoxicated. In a word: [She] is a danger to society. We rely on the legal system to protect us from people like this.”
Bivona in his statement listed the extensive injuries including post-traumatic stress, and said that nearly two years later, “I continue to have severe pain in numerous parts of my body.”
“Everyday activities such as walking up and down stairs, sitting, standing and walking for long periods of time cause me great pain,” he said. “I am no longer able to participate in physical activities such as running and playing sports. I cannot do any physical labor without pain and if I attempt to exert myself in any way, I am left feeling pain and sore the following day. I can no longer drive standard transmission vehicles, which was once a passion of mine. The loss of my teeth makes it difficult for me to eat and I have become self-conscious about my smile. I struggle with depression on a daily basis from both the physical and mental toll this accident has taken on me and the effect it has had on my life.”
Bivona said in the statement that he strongly objects to her plea deal “as it does not come close to an adequate punishment commensurate with [her] conduct or the injuries she caused, it does not serve as a deterrent and it sends a terrible message to the community: That is, if you have money, you can get away with anything.”
Gulash responded that she did not receive any special treatment because of money.
Hernandez said: “There is no doubt about this was a very, very serious accident, but based on my careful review of the arrest report and accident report, I do not believe the state would have been able to prove reckless driving.”
During an interview after the sentencing, Bivona and Parese declined to comment beyond the formal statement read in court.
[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated removing the name of an individual involved in the crash.]
Very disturbing . . .
I want to thank the New Canaan’s Emergency Responders for saving my Grandson’s life. I am eternally grateful! God Bless all of you!
I am saddend to see that my cousin cannot do any of the things he enjoyed most in his life not anything. What a slap on the hand and a slap in the face to the victims left disabled.All I can say is I am glad I left Conn such a greedy state where money talks and it’s always been that way and hasn’t changed yet. I have seen this same behaviour where folks sell drugs in S Norwalk go to jail for life sell it in westport and you get drug treatment . SMH Judixal Sysrem has always stunkl in the Richest state good old CT where if you have money you can buy anyone and anything!!! Sad and Praying for your State.
This is such a tragedy. I hope the civil case brings more justice for Michael Bivona. In the meantime, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help him & his family. We’re praying for a full recovery.
The verdict in this case is outrageous! Fines and probation for a woman, Carol Sung, who caused a horrendous accident leaving two victims, Darryl Shaw and Michael Bivona, with disabilities that they will live with forever. She has had subsequent, DUI charges, and is,essentially, giving “the finger” to the law. Her pathetic apologies are unacceptable. She should have been held acountable, to the fullest extent of the law, for nearly killing two people. This is a completely disgusting outcome!