By Denise Buffa – Staff Writer
A cop insisted yesterday he wasn’t driving drunk when he struck and killed a Brooklyn motorcyclist more than a month ago – but prosecutors say they’ll use a controversial field sobriety test to prove his guilt in court.
Victor Wilson, a 12-year veteran, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court to vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and driving while intoxicated in connection with the June 22 crash in Bay Ridge that claimed the life of 21-year-old Stefanos Kiladitis.
We emphatically state that Mr. Wilson was not intoxicated,” his lawyer, Todd Greenberg, said after the arraignment.
The defense said the victim “unfortunately and tragically” caused the crash at Fort Hamilton Parkway because he was speeding and passed a red light.
There are eyewitnesses who confirm our version of events,” Greenberg said.
Prosecutors concede the victim was traveling fast, but say he didn’t pass a red light. They charge Wilson slowly passed a light while he was drunk.
And they say they plan on proving it by submitting – probably for the first time ever in the city – the results of field sobriety test taken with a portable machine at the scene of a crash.
We’re using it – it’s going to be the first,” prosecutor Maureen McCormick said.
The field test showed Wilson’s blood-alcohol level was .11 percent – slightly above the .10 legal limit – about two hours after the 8:45 p.m. crash, authorities have said.
A test of his blood 61/2 hours after the crash showed his alcohol level was well below the legal limit – possibly as low as .015, prosecutors said.
But experts say that reading means his blood-alcohol level was at least .10 at the time of the accident, considering how much alcohol his body had metabolized by then, according to prosecutors.
But the defense said prosecutors won’t be able to use the field-test results unless they first prove they are scientifically reliable.
Wilson, 43, faces seven years behind bars if convicted.
