Rye Woman Sentenced in Vehicular Death of Manhattanville Student
On Feb. 7, Emma Fox of Rye was sentenced on charges of vehicular manslaughter in the second degree and DWI charges in the death of Manhattanville College student, Robert Schartner.
Judge Helen Blackwood sentenced Fox to six months incarceration in the Westchester County Jail followed by five years of probation. As part of her sentence, Fox’s license was revoked, she will be required to wear an alcohol-monitoring device and an ignition interlock device must be installed on any vehicle in her household. (The ignition device measures blood alcohol, similar to a Breathalyzer and will block the car from starting if the driver is impaired.)
At the sentencing, Robert Schartner’s stepfather read a statement on behalf of the victim’s mother and one on his own behalf. Scott Hall read his wife’s words explaining that she was not in court for the sentencing: “I do not want to see your face” referring to Fox. The statement described her son “Rob” as “caring, thoughtful, smart and charismatic.” On his own behalf, Hall said in reference to Fox, “People say she’s made a mistake. There was no mistake. You made a decision to drink and drive.”
Emma Fox made a statement to the court, in part saying: “There’s not a day since Oct. 9, 2016, that I don’t think about what happened and the pain I have caused the Schartner Family.”
Judge Blackwood stated the case is a “tragedy for the Schartner Family and for the defendant, Ms. Fox.”
On Oct. 9, 2016, at approximately 4:50 a.m., Fox was driving her 2012 Nissan Sentra eastbound on Westchester Avenue in White Plains when she struck and killed Schartner, then a 21-year-old Manhattanville college student who was running back to his dorm from a location in downtown White Plains.
After striking Schartner, Fox drove approximately one-half mile before stopping her car on the right shoulder of Westchester Avenue near Meadowbrook Road. A passing motorist saw that her car had sustained substantial damage to the windshield and called 911.
Police responding to the scene found Schartner unconscious on the shoulder of Westchester Avenue near the entrance to eastbound Interstate 287. He had severe trauma to the back of his head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
White Plains police officers detected an odor of alcohol on Fox’s breath. Standard Field Sobriety tests were conducted, which Fox failed. She was arrested and transported to White Plains Police Department Headquarters. Fox was then taken to White Plains Hospital where she consented to a blood and urine test. Testing revealed that her blood alcohol was above .08 percent.
An autopsy of the victim revealed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma of the body with fractures of skull and ribs, lacerations of brain, lungs, liver and internal hemorrhages.
