FROM:HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE:NOVEMBER 2, 2017
RE: PRESS RELEASE – JOHN PLAYFORD PLEA
John Playford, 22, of Mower Mill Road, Saugerties, entered a guilty plea to Vehicular Manslaughter in the first degree and Reckless Endangerment in the second degree today in Ulster County Court.
The charges stem from a one vehicle car crash on State Route 32 near the Saxton Fire Department on January 31, 2017. During the plea, Playford admitted having a blood alcohol content of .18 or higher when he was operating a vehicle and caused the death of another.
The investigation by the Saugerties Police Department and the NYS Police revealed that Playford drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee at a high rate of speed heading south on Route 32 when he lost control of the vehicle and struck a telephone pole, severing it. The vehicle continued several hundred feet, crashing through a snow bank which caused the vehicle to go airborne. He then hit the concrete steps of a residence, continued on and crashed through a bedroom of the residence where two young children were sleeping. After the Jeep hit the residence it overturned several times ejecting the front seat passenger. The passenger, a close friend of the defendant’s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Playford, who was also under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash, was not seriously injured.
The defendant is facing a sentence of 4 to 12 years in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 16, 2017.
Playford is represented by attorney Jeremiah Flaherty. The matter is being prosecuted by Sr. Assistant District Attorney Gerard VanLoan.