'I was drinking': Driver accused of hitting, killing four-year-old with car in Spring Valley faces several charges
Axel Lopez-Santiago is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, reckless driving and driving while under the influence of alcohol.
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Axel Lopez-Santiago, 41, who is accused of hitting and killing a 4-year-old girl with his Pontiac Bonneville Saturday evening on Nyack Turnpike, admitted to driving drunk, according to a felony complaint obtained Monday.
Golda Eisenbach, the 4-year-old daughter of Spring Valley village trustee Yisroel Eisenbach, died of her injuries at the hospital.
An adult, a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old were also injured.
The complaint states that Santiago was driving east on Nyack Turnpike when he crossed the double line, hitting the four who were on the opposite sidewalk leaving a local park.
The complaint also states that Santiago told an officer, "I hit them," and that Santiago admitted to having drinks at a party before the crash.
He is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, reckless riving and driving while under the influence of alcohol.
Spring Valley residents are horrified over this, the latest death in a long line of pedestrian-involved car crashes.
"Spring Valley police is doing what they gotta do, but they can't stop it," village resident Betty Rooney told News 12, adding that she has been hit by a car before. "Somebody came up on the sidewalk and hit me. It was a hit-and-run. They never found him."
Jean Maxine, who works in the village, says he hates hearing about people driving drunk in the village where to many people are on foot.
So much can go wrong, he said, when commuters are running to catch trains and children are walking to school.
"If you're going to drink, find some other transportation to get there," Maxine said. "Like, that's not smart."
Santiago is still being held on $750,000 cash bail.
He is due back in Spring Valley Justice Court Friday at 10 a.m.
Reached late Tuesday afternoon by phone, Trustee Yisroel Eisenbach said the two other children who were hit were released from the hospital.
The adult who was hit — Eisenbach's nephew — is still in the hospital in critical condition, he said.
Eisenbach said that at some level of government, leaders should consider breathalyzer devices for cars that drivers must use before operating it.
He stressed that he wants such a measure not just for previous DWI offenders, but all drivers.
"They did nothing wrong and couldn't have done anything differently," he said. "There needs to be something implemented. I can't believe that in the year 2025, no one has come up with anything like this yet to prevent these accidents."
