No criminal charges filed in Cornwall crash that killed Highland Mills mother of nine
Police and the district attorney say investigations found no criminality. The family hired a private investigator and questioned how the case was handled.
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More than a year after a deadly crash in Cornwall claimed the life of a Highland Mills mother of nine, authorities say no criminal charges will be filed against the other driver involved.
Donna Maher was killed in a 2 a.m. crash on Route 32 in December 2024 while on her way to work as a newspaper carrier.
Cornwall police body camera video from the scene shows Maher lying face down on the ground, unable to move or respond, surrounded by twisted metal from the crash.
Her daughter, Margaret Maher-Assad, of Washingtonville, provided News 12 with the police video and recently sat down with us to watch it again.
“It’s hard to watch,” Maher-Assad said. “That’s my mom. She was everything to us.”
Police say their investigation determined the crash was the result of a failure to yield. The driver of the other vehicle, 24-year-old Jayden De La Cruz, of Highland Falls, was issued a traffic ticket for failing to yield the right of way while turning left at a green signal. Police say De La Cruz had a learner’s permit at the time of the crash.
Maher-Assad says she believes the investigation did not go far enough. She has raised questions about who was driving at the time of the crash, whether toxicology testing should have been conducted, and whether more could have been done in the moments after the collision.
“We just want to know that everything that could have been done was done,” she said. "My mom is gone. There's nine children and over a dozen grandchildren that don't have the woman who's supposed to be here."
Police say their investigation determined six people were in the vehicle that struck Maher's vehicle, and that they did not identify anyone else as a possible driver.
Authorities also confirmed that no alcohol or drug testing was conducted because, they say, there was no indication or probable cause to believe the driver was impaired.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said a senior prosecutor reviewed the evidence, including data from the vehicle’s crash data recorder.
“Nothing from the actual evidence of the vehicle crash itself indicates criminal behavior beyond traffic violations pointing to an accident,” Hoovler said in a statement. “Everyone in law enforcement feels sorry for the loss of life, but there is no sustainable criminal liability in this matter. This matter should be resolved in civil court.”
Police say De La Cruz has since moved and that they have been unable to reach him regarding the traffic ticket. News 12 has also been unable to reach him for comment.
The grief remains constant for Maher-Assad and her siblings.
“She was the heart of our family,” she said. “She was always there — at every holiday, every birthday. Now there’s just this empty space.”
The family has hired a private investigator and an attorney to continue reviewing the case.
“We’re not going to stop until we get justice for her,” Maher-Assad said. “Whatever that looks like, we’re going to keep pushing until we know we’ve done everything we can.”
News 12 first spoke with the Maher family shortly after the crash in December 2024. That original report can be found here.
