Orange County prosecutors are now offering the driver who allegedly caused a fatal crash involving the New Square grand rabbi last year in Woodbury a plea deal.

Chaim Gordon, 25, was back in court Wednesday night in the Town of Woodbury. The Spring Valley man was offered a plea deal by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office that would have him plead guilty to two of the five tickets, speeding and moving unsafe from lane, that he was given by state police for the deadly crash in 2022 on Route 6.

Gordon was initially given tickets for reckless driving and five other vehicle and traffic infractions. As News12 previously reported, during a court appearance Aug. 14, state police entered a letter on record stating that they ticketed Gordon for reckless driving in error, asking it to be dropped from the pending list of tickets.

News 12 obtained a copy of the publicly entered document Wednesday night.

Woodbury Town Justice David Hasin adjourned the case to review the offer and the state police request until Sept. 27.

Gordon’s attorney, Gerard Damiani, says his client was involved in a tragic accident and that they are ready to accept the offer.

“It was an accident. The first thing our client did when he got out of the vehicle and is in an injured state was attempt to help everybody else, including the driver of the other vehicle. We’ve cooperated fully with the state police from August 2022, when this happened,” said Damiani.

Prosecutors said in court that Gordon was traveling as fast as 76 mph in a 50 mph zone when he lost control of his vehicle and killed Iksong Jin, of Monticello.

State police say Gordon was traveling with a caravan of vehicles that included a third vehicle involved, a 2020 Cadillac carrying New Square Grand Rabbi, David Twersky, when Gordon lost control of his Ford Explorer and crashed into the victim’s Nissan Pathfinder head-on. 

They say despite the investigation’s findings, there is no evidence to support criminal charges.

News 12 reached out to state police to inquire about the letter claiming the reckless driving charge was filed in error. They said that the “matter is in review” and had no further comment.

Orange County District Attorney Dave Hoovler said that the state police investigation found no evidence of distracted driving or excessive speed, and that prior to the deadly incident, Gordon had a clean driving record.

“No one in Orange County is charged with a crime for this set of facts,” said Hoovler.

Hoovler said the plea deal includes the maximum penalty allowable, which would be at least 10 points on Gordon’s license and more than $1,000 in fines.

MORE: Traffic tickets issued to driver in fatal crash involving New Square grand rabbi

MORE: Ticket dropped against driver accused of causing fatal crash involving religious leader