Public Safety officer kills pedestrian in DWI crash

The Homicide Squad arrested a Hempstead man and charged him with vehicular manslaughter on July 14, on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow.

According to detectives, defendant Robert Core, 42, of Terrace Avenue, while on duty for the Town of Hempstead Department of Public Safety, driving a marked Town of Hempstead Public Safety patrol car, struck a 50-year-old man who was crossing Hempstead Turnpike from the northbound lane to the southbound lane in front of the NUMC. The victim died.

At the time of the incident, Core was driving east on Hempstead Turnpike at Franklin Avenue responding to a call in Levittown. A volunteer Levittown ambulance crew was leaving NUMC when they heard the crash and immediately responded to the scene. They transported the victim to NUMC where he was pronounced dead at 11:43 p.m.

Based on observations by officers at the scene, Core was arrested and charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter and DWI. He was also transported to NUMC for minor injuries.

He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.