Wife gets too light sentence for running over and killing husband during drunken argument

A wife who ran over her husband during a drunken argument, killing him, was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison by Rockland County County Court Judge Charles Apotheker on January 3, 2011. 33 year old Kelly McElroy of Stony Point, NY, faced a maximum of 7 years for 2nd degree vehicular manslaughter, a sentence that the victim's family wanted. After last October's guilty plea to the vehicular manslaughter charge and a DWI, Judge Apotheker promised a maximum of three years.

In the early morning of January 24, 2010, Kelly McElroy and her husband, Glenn, 26, left a pub and drove home. During a heated argument, the husband got out of the car and Mrs. McElroy, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.16 percent, struck Glenn.

Emergency responded found him unconscious with severe head injuries. He died on January 30 at Nyack Hospital when he was removed from life support.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said his office “ believe[s] that the ends of justice have been served.”

However, local opinion suggested that McElroy's sentence was too light.

Stony Point Mom asked,  How can the judge "promise" three years and consider less? That doesn't sound like a promise - it sounds like no justice for Glenn and his family...It's hard to understand how you can be drunk, kill someone's son (and the father of your children) and get away with a slap on the wrist.

Another local said,

What is a human life worth these days? For Rockland County Court Judge Charles Apotheker the answer is 1 to 3 years in prison. Apotheker said that Kelly McElroy, a woman who ran over her husband while driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.16, will have to, one day, answer to a "higher authority." That's all well and good but Judge Apotheker represents a higher authority in this life. McElroy pleaded guilty in October to second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.

Apotheker should be held accountable for this absurd sentence that does not in any way equate to the loss of a young man's life.

Frank DeGennaro


Nanuet