Driver in fatal Schenectady hit and run allegedly drugged

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

The man accused of killing a college student with a vehicle then driving away was under the influence of drugs at the time, according to an indictment handed up Wednesday.

The new allegations mean the suspect, Anthony J. Gallo, could face up to 25 years in state prison, if convicted of the charges against him.

Gallo, 34, was indicted Wednesday on one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, a high-level felony that carries the top sentence. He also faces single counts of first-degree vehicular manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatality without reporting, all felonies.

“The grand jury heard evidence that he was under the influence of a controlled substance,” Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said. “That’s the theory of the case as presented to the grand jury.”

Carney declined to elaborate on how investigators reached that conclusion. Authorities, though, have said they were awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

Carney said prosecutors looked into the even more serious charge of murder with depraved indifference to human life, but they uncovered case law that suggested the Gallo case wouldn’t meet that standard.

Nonetheless, the grand jury returned the aggravated vehicular homicide count, the allegation being that Gallo drove recklessly while under the influence of a drug and while his license was suspended.

Gallo has been held since his arrest on an initial felony count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Gallo is accused of running a red light at Erie Boulevard and State Street Nov. 16, hitting Cassandra A. Boone, a 19-year-old Schenectady County Community College student, as she walked east across Erie at State.

Boone, of 1525 Ave. B, died after emergency surgery at Albany Medical Center.

Gallo fled the scene, authorities said. He was arrested the next day, after a tip led police to his residence.

Carney said he met Boone’s mother, Pamela Bolden, in City Court and promised her investigators would do everything they could in the case.

He commended the work of police, investigators from the Schenectady Police Department and the district attorney’s office, as well as prosecutor Brian Gray, for their work on the case.