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Bical’s vehicle was registered to his family-owned business, Bical Chevrolet of Valley Stream, at the time of the incident.
By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on Thursday announced that a Brooklyn man has pleaded guilty to driving 92 mph on the Belt Parkway when he struck and killed a fellow motorist in December 2020.
Jason Bical, 36, was under the influence of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol at the time of the incident.
Bical pleaded guilty Wednesday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael B. Aloise to vehicular manslaughter in the first degree. Aloise indicated he will sentence the defendant to 5 to 15 years in prison on Dec. 13, 2022.
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District Attorney Katz called the case “infuriating,” and said that Bical’s “guilty plea cannot undo this tragedy.”
According to court records, at about 12:45 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2020, the defendant was driving a white 2017 Chevrolet Malibu, registered to his family-owned business, Bical Chevrolet of Valley Stream, westbound on the Belt Parkway near 131st Street in South Ozone Park at 92 mph when he struck the victim, Taher Ali Hassan, also of Brooklyn. Hassan, 63, was rushed to a local hospital with severe head trauma and later died.
DA Katz said Bical’s blood alcohol level was .174 – twice the legal limit. Further toxicology results showed that the defendant also had significant amount of both cocaine and marijuana in his system at the time of the crash. Two Ziplock bags of cocaine were recovered from the center console of the defendant’s car. The Crash Data Recorder recovered from Bical’s vehicle revealed that he was driving 92 mph just five seconds before striking the victim. The posted speed limit on the Belt Parkway is 50 mph. Bical was the Service Department manager at Bical Auto Mall in Brooklyn at the time of the incident.
Katz said, “It is infuriating that this defendant, who already had two prior Driving While Ability Impaired by Alcohol convictions from Brooklyn in 2011 in 2015, made the deadly decision to get behind the wheel of a car while significantly intoxicated with drugs and alcohol. The defendant was driving more than 40 miles per hour above the legal speed limit with cocaine in his vehicle when he caused this horrific incident. His guilty plea cannot undo this tragedy.”
