A cop who mowed down a preacher's daughter was no hero at the scene, family members and sources familiar with the probe of the drunk driving crash told the Daily News Friday.
"That story is a bunch of bull," a source said referring to Officer Andrew Kelly's claim that he gave the victim CPR moments after the Sunday morning accident.
"He barely touched the girl. His hands were almost on her stomach, not her chest."
Investigators believe someone who was at the same Brooklyn wedding that victim Vionique Valnord had just attended was desperately pumping her chest and giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
"His mouth never even touched her mouth," the source said, adding that a second person who also attended the wedding was helping with the mouth-to-mouth.
Kelly's hero pose outraged Valnord's family.
"I think it's an insult," Valnord's father, the Rev. Varius Valnord told the News.
"He's trying to take the blame from himself. He's the one to blame. I forgive him, but the lord will do the right thing."
The 7-year-veteran cop was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI for slamming his Jeep Cherokee into Valnord as she hailed a cab in Old Mill Basin.
Three passengers, including a fellow officer, fled. It took seven hours to get Kelly's blood for an alcohol test. NYPD Internal Affairs investigators are probing for a possible cover-up by cops at the scene.
One officer has been suspended for giving Kelly two bottles of water and gum after the crash, News reported earlier Friday.
Kelly's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, handed a prosecutor a condolence card for Valnord's family in court Friday, and again insisted the officer wasn't drunk.
Aidala earlier this week said that Kelly "brought her back to life" and that she was breathing when he "handed" Valnord over to the paramedics. "She never regained consciousness," a source told The News.
Kelly had worked a regular shift at the 68th Precinct earlier in the day before going to a bar, then to a friend's house to watch the Notre Dame football game, and then to a second bar where he allegedly had six-to-eight drinks.
His blood alcohol level later found no booze in his system. Witnesses told investigators Kelly was unsteady, had glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol, although he was given gum and water and was chain-smoking cigarettes at the scene.
"This would be another example of police attempting to help cover-up for a fellow officer who may have committed a serious crime," said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, who the family has hired.
"No matter what spin is being attempted, the facts speak for themselves. He was not sober at the time of this tragedy."
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"That story is a bunch of bull," a source said referring to Officer Andrew Kelly's claim that he gave the victim CPR moments after the Sunday morning accident.
"He barely touched the girl. His hands were almost on her stomach, not her chest."
Investigators believe someone who was at the same Brooklyn wedding that victim Vionique Valnord had just attended was desperately pumping her chest and giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
"His mouth never even touched her mouth," the source said, adding that a second person who also attended the wedding was helping with the mouth-to-mouth.
Kelly's hero pose outraged Valnord's family.
"I think it's an insult," Valnord's father, the Rev. Varius Valnord told the News.
"He's trying to take the blame from himself. He's the one to blame. I forgive him, but the lord will do the right thing."
The 7-year-veteran cop was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI for slamming his Jeep Cherokee into Valnord as she hailed a cab in Old Mill Basin.
Three passengers, including a fellow officer, fled. It took seven hours to get Kelly's blood for an alcohol test. NYPD Internal Affairs investigators are probing for a possible cover-up by cops at the scene.
One officer has been suspended for giving Kelly two bottles of water and gum after the crash, News reported earlier Friday.
Kelly's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, handed a prosecutor a condolence card for Valnord's family in court Friday, and again insisted the officer wasn't drunk.
Aidala earlier this week said that Kelly "brought her back to life" and that she was breathing when he "handed" Valnord over to the paramedics. "She never regained consciousness," a source told The News.
Kelly had worked a regular shift at the 68th Precinct earlier in the day before going to a bar, then to a friend's house to watch the Notre Dame football game, and then to a second bar where he allegedly had six-to-eight drinks.
His blood alcohol level later found no booze in his system. Witnesses told investigators Kelly was unsteady, had glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol, although he was given gum and water and was chain-smoking cigarettes at the scene.
"This would be another example of police attempting to help cover-up for a fellow officer who may have committed a serious crime," said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, who the family has hired.
"No matter what spin is being attempted, the facts speak for themselves. He was not sober at the time of this tragedy."
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Other Information: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/nyregion/03dwi.html
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