A drunk motorist who ran a red light and killed a pedestrian while driving more than 70 mph through a Brooklyn intersection has been sentenced to three to nine years in prison.
Erick Trujillo, 29, of Borough Park, pleaded guilty to manslaughter more than a year after he raced his Volvo past a red light in Cobble Hill and struck Katherine Harris, 31, before rear ending another car and crashing into an outdoor dining shed.
Harris, a skin care technician and makeup artist, was pronounced dead at the scene. She was just steps away from home.
“This defendant made a disastrous decision when he got behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said.
“In doing so, he caused an innocent woman to be killed and endangered many others in Brooklyn that night. He has now been held accountable for his criminal conduct.”
Katherine Harris was killed when she was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street on Atlantic Ave. and Clinton St. in Brooklyn Heights on Sunday, April 16, 2023.
Trujillo was behind the wheel on April 16, 2023, when, shortly before 10 p.m., he plowed through a red light at the corner of Atlantic Ave. and Clinton Street, where Harris was crossing, just steps away from her home.
Neighbors said she would have made it home safely if she had just gotten across the street.
Friends and family described Harris as an outgoing, loyal friend from Dutchess County who loved living in the city.
“She was a phenomenon, a force to be reckoned with,” Harris mother, Kim Harris, 60, told the Daily News. “She was determined. She was smart. She was funny, and she had everything to look forward to. I’m gonna tell you it’s been awful, but there isn’t a word to describe how awful it’s been. She’s been part of my DNA, and it’s like losing part of me. I lost part of me.”
Jen Barton, the victim’s aunt, called Trujillo a “despicable human being.”
“You just kept driving as if she wasn’t there,” Barton said in her impact statement in court. “I can’t get the image of you running over our Katie out of my head. I hope you have the same nightmares about what you did to Katie as I do.”
Harris’ boyfriend, Chris Kosar, recalled how their dating app romance blossomed despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She knew how to have fun, but she also had a work ethic that was admirable and inspiring,” Kosar, wrote in a victim’s impact statement that was shared in court during the sentencing.
“Katie loved baseball and music and shopping for designer bags and watching trashy TV. She would ask to pet every dog she passed in the street. She always made a point of supporting local and Black-owned businesses, even when money was tight.”
Harris’ friend, Samantha Whitlow, said the driver cheated Harris out of the chance to become a wife and a mother.
“She will never again be able to light up our lives with her jokes … never again be the first person to show up when someone needed her,” Whitlow wrote in her impact statement. “She will never again celebrate another birthday, holiday, take another vacation and make epic memories with people who mattered most to her.”
Another of Harris’ friends vented her anger at Trujillo for his “wrong decision.”
“You made wrong decision after wrong decision and you cut Katie’s life short in the most tragic way possible,” the woman, named Kristen, said in her impact statement. “Steps away from her home. This probably means nothing to you. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to feel the gravity of this situation like it does for all her family and friends.”
She said Trujillo’s sentence won’t be enough to ease her pain.
“Nothing will be enough,” she said. “But I hope you spend your days in prison thinking about how many lives you’ve impacted. I hope you feel pain like all of us do. I hope you reflect on this until it gets sickening.”
A blood alcohol test taken at the time showed Trujillo had a blood alcohol level of .17, nearly twice the legal limit of .08. Investigators determined he was driving at 72 mph in a 25 mph zone