HACKENSACK, N.J. — Jan. 30, 2017 — A Ewing Township woman who is charged with killing an elderly pedestrian in Fort Lee last May while driving drunk will appeal her denial into the state’s drug court program. Story by Mary Miraglia.
Christine Ko, 23, appeared in Superior Court Monday morning with her attorney, Wanda Akin, when Akin asked for 30 days time to file an appeal of the denial. Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney said he is “willing to listen” to additional evidence in the case, “But frankly, I can’t imagine my position changing much. But I am willing to listen.”
Akin told Presiding Judge Susan J. Steele “It’s quite an extensive investigation, mostly digital,” in justifying her request for additional time. But Delaney said his experience is that pedestrian strikes, as the accident that killed the Fort Lee man was, don’t typically trigger an event on a car’s recording system.
Ko is charged with the death by auto of Ruben Enukashvili, 86, who was crossing Lemoine Avenue near Whiteman Street a little before 9 p.m. Sunday, May 29 when he was fatally struck by a 2011 Hyundai Sonata driven by Ko, who is a liquor store clerk in Fort Lee. Enukashvili was taken to Hackensack Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
She is due back in court March 13 to update Steele on the results of her appeal and any new developments in the case.
