Drugged Driver in Crash that Killed Uncle Gets 7 to 12 Years in Prison

Townsley was convicted of manslaughter following August 2007 drugged driving crash on the Southern State Parkway in Malverne

MINEOLA – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Salih Townsley, 30, of Brooklyn, has been sentenced to seven to 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of manslaughter and other felonies related to an August 2007 drugged-driving crash that killed his 43-year-old passenger and seriously injured his girlfriend’s four-year-old child. 

Townsley was convicted of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Vehicular Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Driving While Impaired by Drugs, Reckless Assault, Vehicular Assault, Reckless Endangerment, and other traffic violations. 

On August 19, 2007, Townsley was driving his 2000 Jaguar S-Type eastbound on the Southern State Parkway near Malverne at a high rate of speed when it skidded off the wet road and slammed into a tree. Backseat passenger Steven Stanley, 43, of Brooklyn was killed, and an unrestrained four-year-old girl was ejected from the vehicle, suffering numerous fractures and bleeding to her brain. Two other passengers, a 26-year-old man and a three-year-old boy, escaped injury. The two young children are Townsley’s girlfriend’s. Investigators later determined that Townsley was high on marijuana during the crash.

“Mr. Townsley got high, got behind the wheel, killed his uncle and seriously injured a defenseless four-year-old girl,” Rice said. “He will now face the consequences of a terrible tragedy that could have been easily prevented.”

Handling the cases for the District Attorney’s Office is Assistant District Attorney Matt Lampert of the DA’s Vehicular Crimes Bureau. Townsley is represented by Dennis Lemke, Esq.