L.I. Man Sentenced In Memorial Day Drunk Driving Crash Through Home

RIVERHEAD. N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - A Long Island man has been sentenced for driving his parents' red Mercedes-Benz through a home in Huntington on Memorial Day and narrowly missing two elderly sisters.

The women, both in their 90s, were too frail to stay at the courthouse for the sentencing of Daniel Sajewski.

Prosecutors said the 24-year-old drank shots of Jack Daniels and beer before getting behind the wheel and slamming right through the sisters' house, leaving them homeless for months.

"Lost belongings that they'll never be able to replace. One sister only wanted her wedding band and she was unable to find it in the rubble," Suffolk County prosecutor Nancy Clifford told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall of the May 2012 incident.

Just recently, the women were able to move back into their house.

"He drove the car from the front of the house, through the house, into the back of the house," Clifford said. "The victims were steps away from where the impact was."

The judge sentenced Sajewski to one-and-a-half to three years behind bars on charges including driving while intoxicated, reckless endangerment and making false statements.

Sajewski's ex-girlfriend Sophia Anderson originally took the blame for the crime.

Anderson was arrested on the day of the crash for drunk driving, but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors determined Sajewski was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.

Sajewski's lawyer William Keahon said he believes she still is the one at fault.

"I truly believe that he wanted to take responsibility for her," Keahon told Hall.

In September, Anderson apologized for her role in the incident during her arraignment on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of governmental operation.

"I want to apologize to Helen Indiere and her sister, Virginia Bennett, who were innocently sleeping inside their home the night of the accident," Anderson said.

Anderson said she was drunk and high when she agreed to take the rap and by the time she sobered up it was too late to change her story. Her attorney, John LoTurco, convinced her it was not.

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