Jennifer Kirkpatrick with her attorney, Michael Brown, outside state Supreme Court Justice John Collins’ courtroom in Riverhead on Wednesday. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
By John Asbury
[email protected]
Updated January 7, 2026 8:08 pm
A Melville woman who prosecutors allege was driving drunk at twice the legal limit last October when her SUV struck and killed a Wyandanch man riding a scooter appeared in a Riverhead courtroom Wednesday, where she pleaded not guilty.
Jennifer Kirkpatrick, 25, entered her plea before state Supreme Court Justice John B. Collins after a grand jury previously elevated the initial misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated to felony manslaughter and aggravated DWI counts in connection with the Oct. 25 death of Joseph Melendez, 28, in Melville.
Melendez’s family attended the arraignment wearing sweatshirts with his photo that read “Justice for Joe.” Family members declined to comment after the hearing except saying, “He’s missed.”
Friends and family said Melendez left behind a 7-year-old son, Giovanni.
Prosecutors allege Kirkpatrick told police she had been drinking at a hibachi bar in Bay Shore before the crash.
She stopped at a red light on southbound Bagatelle Road and was turning left on a green arrow to go east on the Long Island Expressway Service Road in Melville when she “cut across the intersection and failed to yield,” striking Melendez, riding a gas-powered scooter and heading north on Bagatelle Road, shortly after 1 a.m., Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ray Varulo said in court.
Melendez was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip where he died.
Kirkpatrick was taken to Huntington Hospital where a blood test about two hours after the crash revealed she had a 0.19% blood alcohol concentration, Varulo said. The legal blood alcohol limit for drivers in New York State is 0.08%.
A postmortem blood test of Melendez found a blood alcohol level of 0.14% and also found marijuana and cocaine in his system, Varulo said.
Kirkpatrick’s criminal attorney, Michael Brown, said she had no prior criminal record.
Brown said the black box on Kirkpatrick’s Subaru Forrester showed she stopped for several seconds at the light and proceeded across the intersection at an estimated 14 mph.
He said Kirkpatrick remained at the scene and cooperated with police while several other drivers, either in cars or scooters, traveling with Melendez, drove away. Brown said the only witness was a friend of Melendez who was also traveling with him and smoking marijuana the night of the crash.
Brown said he believed Melendez had a red light when Kirkpatrick turned on a green arrow.
“It’s all about how and why the accident happened,” Brown said. “It is at best a misdemeanor DWI.”
Prosecutors said Kirkpatrick stopped at the red light, but once it turned green, she cut across the intersection “failing to yield” to oncoming traffic.
Prosecutors did not say if Melendez drove through a red light, but Collins said, “in my experience, if there’s a green arrow, it’s red in the other direction.”
Collins set bail for Kirkpatrick at $10,000 cash or $100,000 bond. He also ordered her driver’s license suspended.
Kirkpatrick’s mother posted bail and Kirkpatrick left the Riverhead courthouse Wednesday afternoon. Brown said Kirkpatrick is the single mother of a 4-year-old daughter and works as a manager at P.F. Chang’s bar and restaurant. He said she was a graduate of Walt Whitman High School and lived with her mother.
If convicted, Kirkpatrick could face 5 to 15 years in prison. She was ordered to return to court Feb. 25.
