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Office of the District Attorney P. David Soares Woman Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter after Driving Under the Influence of Sleep Aid Ambien ALBANY , NY – District Attorney P. David Soares today announced that DARLENE KAWCZAK, 52, of Bethlehem , NY pled guilty to (1) count of Vehicular Manslaughter in the 2 nd Degree, a Class “D” Felony. Under the terms of the plea bargain, KAWCZAK will serve jail time and will be placed on probation for five years. She will also be required to serve 160 hours of community service, including participating in public panel discussions regarding the use of prescription medications, and may not be allowed to own or operate a motor vehicle while on probation. In one of the first cases in New York to address the issue of driving under the influence of the sleep aid Ambien, KAWCZAK pled guilty to Vehicular Manslaughter for causing the death of a Bethlehem man. On July 3, 2006 , at approximately 10:46 A.M. , KAWCZAK was driving in an impaired state as a result of taking Ambien when she hit and killed Joel Melnikoff who was riding his bicycle on the shoulder of the road on Route 32 in the Town of Bethlehem . KAWCZAK admits to drinking five or six beers earlier and taking Ambien along with other prescribed drugs at 10:00 P.M. on Tuesday, July 2, 2006 . After the crash on Wednesday, July 3, 2006 , KAWCZAK was found to have 280 nanograms per milliliter of Ambien, more than twice the normal dose, in her system. Prosecuting Attorney, Chief ADA Mark Harris stated, “This is an extremely tragic case in which the life of a loving husband and father was taken away because the defendant chose to drive her car while still under the influence of a sleep aid. Hopefully her conviction will lead to a much greater awareness that it is not only alcohol impaired drivers who have to be kept off the roads. The public is bombarded on TV and in the print media with advertisements for all manners of drugs that are touted as being safe, but as seen today, can sometimes be deadly. Ambien and other sleep aids fall into this category and people under the influence of them can be far more impaired than they would be above the legal limit for alcohol. Furthermore, the interactions of these drugs with others, and the length of time someone is under the influence varies greatly between people. We have to wake up to the possible dangers before any more lives are lost.” DA David Soares stated, “It is the goal of my office to make the public more aware of the abuses and dangers of little thought of drugs. This includes not only steroids, but also as this case has pointed out, something as allegedly harmless as a sleep aid used by millions of people every night.” Sentencing for KAWCZAK is scheduled for August 16, 2007 . Chief ADA Mark Harris handled the prosecution of this case. ### For further information contact: Heather Streeter Orth
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