A woman from Rome is facing vehicular manslaughter charges in a fatal crash on Interstate 81 back in May. But now, there is a new charge in the case. Bill Carey says the charge isn't against the driver in the crash, but the man who owns the bar where she was drinking just hours before the deadly collision.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Just before dawn on the morning of Friday, May 8, authorities shut down a portion of Interstate 81 after a deadly crash in LaFayette.
A New Jersey man, 58-year-old Bruce Ham, was killed after his car was struck by another auto headed in the wrong direction. That car was driven by 32-year-old Amy Dell of Rome.
Police charged Dell with driving while intoxicated and vehicular manslaughter in the second-degree.
As they pieced together the events leading up the crash, investigators say they've found that Dell spent hours drinking the night of the crash, at the Corner Bar in Armory Square.
They put in a routine request for copies of surveillance tapes from 10 or so cameras inside and around the bar. But when the tapes were handed over, there are large segments missing.
Convinced the evidence has been tampered with, search warrants were executed and missing video was found. The video allegedly shows Dell falling down several times inside the bar, and being carried to her car about an hour before the accident.
The man in control of the tapes, investigators say, is 41-year-old John Hanus, who owns the Corner Bar.
Now Hanus is facing a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence. In Syracuse City Court he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Neither Hanus nor his attorney would discuss the case after his arraignment, and no one is talking yet about the motive for any evidence tampering.
The district attorney had asked that bar owner John Hanus be held on $10,000 bail. The judge that heard the arraignment allowed him to be released on his own recognizance.