A woman is dealing with criminal charges after a hit-and-run car crash resulted in death of a New York-based federal judge.
The crash took place on Friday morning in Boca Raton, Florida. According to reports, U.S. District Judge Sandra Feuerstein was walking on a sidewalk when a car being driven by Nastasia Andranie Snape hit her. The car continued, striking and injuring a 6-year-old boy who was crossing the street.
The 23-year-old Snape was charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a car crash involving death.
Since 2003, Feuerstein had served as a federal judge in New York’s Eastern District. She was based at the federal courthouse in Central Islip on Long Island.
Eugene Corcoran, executive of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, said Feuerstein “was a treasured member of our Eastern District Bench. Her eccentric style and warm personality lit up the courtroom. She will be missed by her colleagues and litigants alike”.
Feuerstein was born in New York in 1946 and worked as a schoolteacher before she earned a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1979.
“She viewed a judge’s role as interpreting and not creating law,” said Joshua Glick, who clerked for Feuerstein in 2007 and 2007. “She was concentrated on writing clear and concise opinions that were easily understood. She was occasionally tough on litigants who she felt were not being completely candid with her, but she was always fair.”