Chemung County Grand Jury Indicts Drunk Hit-And-Run Driver In Death Of Elmira Bicyclist, Says NY Bike Crash Lawyer

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Clik here to view.A Chemung County grand jury has indicted an Elmira Heights woman who was arrested in April after an Elmira bicyclist was struck and killed in a fatal hit-and-run crash near Eldridge Park in Elmira.

The grand jury indicted Sara E. Harnas, 40, of East 11th Street in Elmira Heights, on multiple felony charges – First-Degree Vehicular Manslaughter, Leaving the Scene of a Personal Injury Accident Without Reporting, and Aggravated Operation of a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol. In addition, she was indicted on two counts of one misdemeanor charge, Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol.

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Sara Harnas

Police said Harnas was driving drunk on Grand Central Avenue between the Clemens Center Parkway Extension and East McCann’s Boulevard in Elmira during the afternoon of April 9 when she struck a bicyclist, Charles G. Rogers, 68, of Elmira. Rogers died a short time later at Arnot Ogden Medical Center.

Police said Harnas drove away from the crash scene without stopping but a witness alerted police and followed Harnas until police stopped her in Elmira Heights.

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Charles Rogers

Harnas, who remains in the Chemung County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, was driving a 2006 Ford Fusion that she did not own without a license after her driver’s license had been suspended six times! Her blood-alcohol content shortly after the crash was .22 percent, nearly four times the legal intoxication limit, according to the indictment.

As a local bicycle advocate and a board member on the New York Bicycling Coalition, my heart goes out to the family of Charles G. Rogers and I will work to ensure that this reckless drunk driver is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Thanks for reading,

Jim