Rotterdam woman admits fatal hit-and-run, to get prison

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Megan Alexandre

SCHENECTADY — A Rotterdam woman admitted this week to striking a local man last year on Hamburg Street and then fleeing the seen, leaving him to die, prosecutors said.

Megan Alexandre, 31, of Curry Road, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a felony.

She is to be sentenced in June to 1 to 3 years in state prison, Schenectady County district attorney’s officials said.

Alexandre struck and killed pedestrian Dramone Houston, 46, on Jan., 12, 2018. She then fled the scene without stopping and never sought medical assistance for Houston, prosecutors said.

Business surveillance video proved key to finding Alexandre, police said. The video captured images of the crash just after 11 p.m. that night and provided enough detail for investigators to identify the vehicle as a Jeep Liberty.

Investigators then got a list of all the Jeep Liberties in the area and systematically checked each one.

Dramone Houston, from his family’s GoFundMe page.

They found the one owned by Alexandre parked in her driveway, about a mile from the crash scene. It had a large dent in the hood and damage to its headlights, police said.

The investigation also showed that, but for leaving the scene without stopping, Alexandre was not criminally negligent in Houston’s death, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said in a press release. She wasn’t speeding. It was raining and the road was under construction.

“Had she remained at the scene, it is likely that she would not have faced criminal prosecution in the tragic death of Mr. Houston,” Carney said.

Houston’s body wasn’t discovered until shortly after 2 a.m., when a passing motorist spotted him lying off the road and called police.

Houston’s wife later told investigators he had worked the late shift at the Glenville Walmart on Friday and the last bus dropped him off on Altamont Avenue. His path home took him down Hamburg Street.

The surveillance video appeared to show Houston walking on the shoulder of the road, though with his back to traffic.

The medical examiner determined Houston died upon impact.

Carney added that, based on pre-trial conferences, Judge Matthew Sypniewski felt strongly that a prison sentence was required to maintain consistency and to deter others from fleeing.

“The district attorney’s office shares his concerns,” Carney wrote.

The crash happened less than two years after another hit-and-run fatal accident on Hamburg Street, that one less than a mile away. Police used car parts left at the scene of the 2016 crash to find the driver who had gone to New York City attempting to repair the damage. A judge later sentenced that driver to 2 to 6 years in state prison.

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